Cabaret<\/em>,” – now titled “Cabaret at the Kit Kat Club” \u2013 the 1966 musical about the fate of a Berlin nightclub and its patrons during the rise of the Nazism, will for the first time feature three Black actors in its starring roles, Porter said in an interview on \u201cCBS Mornings\u201d on Monday.<\/p>\n\u201cThis is the first time in the 60-year history that all three of those characters have been African-American in a commercial production,\u201d he said. \u201cAnd with what\u2019s going on in the world right now, Black people have replaced the Jews in this sort of configuration of what we\u2019re going through.\u201d<\/p>\n
The comments by the Emmy, Tony, and Grammy Award-winning actor have drawn criticism online, with TikTok Broadway influencer Ben Lebofsky saying in a video that Porter\u2019s statements imply that \u201cJews no longer face discrimination.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cAs we all know, antisemitism is alive and well, and to me, it feels like Billy\u2019s comments here is dismissing,\u201d said Lebofsky. \u201cWhich becomes even more problematic when you consider that he is about to step into a musical that is first and foremost about Jewish trauma.\u201d<\/p>\n
But while Lebofsky had criticism for Porter\u2019s statements, the influencer also acknowledged that his comparison between the discrimination faced by Jews and Black Americans rings true.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think what he is trying to say is that, in today\u2019s day and age, Black people face a lot of discrimination, and you can draw a lot of parallels to the discrimination that Black people face and the discrimination that Jewish people face, which I think is a true statement,\u201d said Lebofsky in the video.<\/p>\n
A spokesperson for Porter did not immediately respond to a request for comment.<\/p>\n
In April, Porter appeared alongside Holocaust survivors in a photo project titled \u201cBorrowed Spotlight\u201d that was designed to draw attention to survivor\u2019s stories by posing them alongside famous celebrities.<\/p>\n
\u201cI was honored to meet fellow New Yorker Bella Rosenberg for a photoshoot with @brycethompson and the @borrowedspotlight project,\u201d wrote Porter in an Instagram post about his experience with the project. \u201cHer story is a powerful reminder of what can happen when hate goes unchecked and why we must remain vigilant in protecting the most vulnerable in our society.\u201d<\/p>\n
The new revival of Cabaret launched last year with Eddie Redmayne, a British actor, in the role of Emcee, and Porter is expected to fill the role until its scheduled close in October. The actor who originated the role on stage and screen was Joel Grey, a Jewish star of Broadway who more recently directed the Yiddish production of \u201cFiddler on the Roof.\u201d<\/p>\n
Grey wrote last year in a New York Times essay that he had been disquieted by learning about the audience reaction during the revival to an antisemitic lyric that, in his day, caused audiences to gasp and recoil.<\/p>\n
The lyric \u201cIf you could see her through my eyes, she wouldn\u2019t look Jewish at all,\u201d had reportedly received laughter from its audience, a reaction that Grey said potentially underscored a \u201ccollective shrug of indifference\u201d during the Trump era.<\/p>\n
\u201cIn the late 1960s, we softened the line because the truth was too hard to hear,\u201d he wrote. \u201cToday, it seems the line is playing exactly as the Nazi-sympathizing Emcee would have intended.\u201d<\/p>\n
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