(JTA) — Sarah Silverman was just given one of the highest celebrity honors — a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. But her acceptance speech wasn’t so light hearted.
“In a scary time when anti-Semitic crime is up 57 percent since 2016, it’s not lost on me how lucky I am to be given a star and not have to sew it on my clothes,” the Jewish comedian said after her star was unveiled on Friday.
Silverman repeated the line — a reference to the yellow stars that Nazis forced Jews to wear during World War II — later that day in an appearance on Bill Maher’s HBO show.
“I don’t know if that’s gallows humor or just it’s-funny-because-it’s-true humor,” she said on “Real Time with Bill Maher.”
Silverman seems to be referring to a report by the Anti-Defamation League that showed anti-Semitic incidents spiked in 2017, with a 57 percent increase since the previous year. That number includes more than 160 bomb threats sent to Jewish community centers in early 2017 by a Jewish teen from Israel.
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