The director of the Anne Frank Center wants Tim Allen to apologize

The Ninth Annual George Lopez Celebrity Golf Classic - Arrivals

As we discussed a few days ago, Tim Allen tried to do a bit on Jimmy Kimmel Live and the bit fell flat. Kimmel asked Tim about Donald Trump’s inauguration, which Tim Allen attended, and Tim got a bit squirrelly about discussing politics. He made a reference to being in LA and “You get beat up if you don’t believe what everybody believes. This is like ’30s Germany. I don’t know what happened.” Yes, political conservatives in Hollywood are just like the Jews in Nazi Germany. Exactly!!! Because it’s not like Tim Allen, a former cocaine dealer and drug trafficker, isn’t ensconced in privilege. He was literally on Jimmy Kimmel Live to promote his popular TV show on network television and his popular stand-up comedy tour. It’s like the Holocaust, amirite? So, obviously, the Anne Frank Center for Mutual Respect issued a statement about it:

The Anne Frank Center says its mission is to call out prejudice and discrimination. Its executive director, Steven Goldstein, called on Allen to apologize to “the Jewish people and, to be sure, the other peoples also targeted by the Nazis.”

“Tim, have you lost your mind?” he said in a statement. “No one in Hollywood today is subjecting you or anyone else to what the Nazis imposed on Jews in the 1930s — the world’s most evil program of dehumanization, imprisonment and mass brutality, implemented by an entire national government, as the prelude for the genocide of nearly an entire people.”

Goldstein went on to say: “Sorry, Tim, that’s just not the same as getting turned down for a movie role.”

[From CNN]

Unfortunately, I absolutely believe that Goldstein’s statement will just be used as another example of how Hollywood conservatives are being “persecuted.” Because that’s big with those people – the most privileged people in America are exactly the people who absolutely love to feel martyred. “Someone said something mean about me and asked me to apologize, which proves my point!!”

Speaking of delusional, The Hollywood Reporter published an op-ed by Stephen Galloway this week called “A New McCarthyism in Hollywood?” It’s not about how minority actors and people of color face systemic disadvantages in Hollywood. It’s not about how women are punished by the system if they dare question the power held by white men. No, the piece is about how awful it is that Hollywood conservatives (white men!) might feel uncomfortable sometimes. Like, Galloway literally does this whole woe-are-Vince-Vaughn-and-Mel-Gibson thing about how Mel and Vince probably felt so uncomfortable listening to Meryl Streep’s Golden Globes speech. You cannot make this sh-t up.

G'Day USA Black Tie Gala

Photos courtesy of WENN.

You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.

31 Responses to “The director of the Anne Frank Center wants Tim Allen to apologize”

Comments are Closed

We close comments on older posts to fight comment spam.

  1. Erinn says:

    I can never understand the extreme self-centered attitude of so many celebrities. I know that they’re pretty much conditioned to be at least somewhat self-serving – but comparing yourself being inconvenienced or having a bit of a hard time finding roles (he’s been working consistently) to Nazi Germany is just so tone-deaf and idiotic, it makes my blood boil.

  2. Shambles says:

    Tim Allen was a cocaine trafficker?!? What? I never knew that.

    And yeah… the only apt Nazi comparisons are the ones about the actual Nazis in the White House. I truly believe those are fair, and that Trump killed Godwin’s law. But Allen should certainly apologize.

    • Adrien says:

      Yes, and he ratted out 21 people in exchange for a lesser sentence. He initially got a life sentence. I read it on Gawker years ago.

      • Shambles says:

        Whaaaaaaat even. I never knew anything about this. I just thought he was an unfunny actor with a penchant for dressing up like Santa

    • freewhitebaby5.0 says:

      It was 40 years ago, before became famous. I don’t know how it’s even significant anymore.

      • Ange says:

        Ummm because he is trying to pretend it’s not significant? Like he can’t even realise how lucky he is to be a free man making millions of dollars despite having a heavy conviction under his belt. But oh no, he’s doing it super tough you guys.

    • Tough Cookie says:

      Shambles, can we hang out every day? You crack me up!!

  3. Who ARE These People? says:

    In a way, the discomfort of the privileged, and the unwittingly stupid things they are saying about it, tells me they are being forced to confront something that they have not hitherto been forced to confront.

    Tim, go visit the unmarked graves of my ancestors in Russia and Poland. Or if that’s too inconvenient, the Holocaust museum in D.C. And I’m sure there’s something in LA you can manage to squeeze in on lunch hour.

    Then we’ll talk.

    • cr says:

      The Simon Wiesenthal Center and Museum of Tolerance are in LA. Maybe he should visit. Not that he’d learn anything, but perhaps he could at least try.

  4. AreYouForReal? says:

    “To the privileged, equality feels like oppression.” Too many privileged white men coming out of the woodwork to lament other people getting a voice.

  5. Lindy79 says:

    All this sounds like is the same morons who moan about being persecuted because of “PC Culture” meaning they can’t say offensive, racist and sexist crap anymore and it’s everyone’s fault not theirs…basically your average Trump supporter.

  6. Margo S. says:

    Galloway is the worst. He such a teachers pet. Can’t stand him and wish he would just go away and stop doing the roundtables!

  7. msw says:

    Funny, all these white conservative people (including our president) needing safe spaces….

  8. Becky says:

    “You get beat up if you don’t believe what everybody believes” maybe you should go ask Wyclef Jean or any other poc about their experiences instead? Stupid old white men, smh.

  9. arock says:

    Irrelevant actor tried to justify and add weight to irrelevant beliefs.

  10. Lucy says:

    Whenever this kind of people are like “you should respect my opinion because free world!!!” I’m always like…no. It’s one thing when we think differently about things like movies, athletes, foods, actors, etc. When your opinion straight up disrespects and disregards the rights, opportunities and existence of other people, then I will NOT respect it nor accept it. It may sound immature, and maybe even be a bit useless, but I really don’t care. Freedom of speech means that you cannot be censured, imprisoned nor killed for the things you say, not that you cannot be called out for spitting out terrible bs.

    • Nina says:

      Exactly. If freedom of speech grants you the right to say the things you want without fear of imprisonment or death, then those who disagree with you or who are bothered by what you say have the right to express their opinions, as well.

  11. AnnaKist says:

    Tim Allen is a prize wanker, and an unfunny one, at that.

  12. poppy says:

    TA doesn’t “know what happened” to his elite white man bubble of Hollywood but knows what happened in “30s Germany”? smh

    good on kimmel for tipping TA out of the pan and into the fire -where he deserves to burn.

  13. Imqrious2 says:

    You petulant jerkoff! You want to know what it really felt like in Nazi Germany? Come talk to my dad, who spent his teen years in four different concentration camps, who was in the Dachau Death March, who was starved and beaten daily. Go visit the mass graves of those who were slaughtered just for daring to be alive. THEN Come talk to me about persecution. A$$wipe!

  14. Spike says:

    Yes Timothy Allen Dick, you’ve paid the price. It’s been just like WW II getting so steady work for the past 29 years. How can you abide this prejudice?

  15. eggyweggs says:

    All of this Tim Allen talk has reminded me that I watched a lot of “Home Improvement” reruns in the mid-to-late ’90s, before I was put on Prozac. I was incredibly depressed and too sad to reach for the remote and I hated myself so much I felt I deserved to be punished with the banality that was that show. That’s what Tim Allen will always be to me: punishment by banality. Dull as a box of hammers nailing home the point that you don’t want to be a part of the sh!t this dude is selling. This guy is a hack. His catchphrase is a grunt.

    Andrew Ti and Eliot Glazer discussed Tim Allen this morning on “Yo, Is This Racist?” which is Ti’s podcast. I recommend the podcast in general and this discussion in particular.

    • laulau says:

      That’s so sad. I’m glad you’re better and (hopefully) able to watch something actually funny.

      Similarly, after I got my wisdom teeth out I lost the remote and ended up on a 24 hour Spice Girls Extravaganza (held because they came to Canada I guess)… At one point I just started crying, like ‘what has happened to my life?’. Bad times and to this day Posh makes my mouth hurt.

  16. Nina says:

    And *IF* (and that’s a pretty big if) he does release some sort of statement, it’ll be one of those, “I’m sorry if you were offended…” spiels, rather than apologizing for saying something that was ignorant and insensitive, which is the most condescending crap.

  17. MC2 says:

    I feel sorry for the guys who played his children on that show and the fact that they had to grow up listening to this crap. Tim Allen sucks- always has & always will. Maybe some in Hollywood don’t like him because he’s just a terrible person?

  18. Annika says:

    F**k him.

  19. Bridget says:

    Won’t anyone think about how Vince Vaughn, Mel Gibson, and Tim Allen FEEL? They might be a little uncomfortable having someone tell them the truth!

  20. Kappamake says:

    Fun fact: Tim’s real last name is Dick. Allen is his middle name. He went to high school with one of my sisters. Just goes to show, he can change his name but he’s still a Dick!

  21. Delta Juliet says:

    Seriously people. Stop saying things are “just like rape” or “just like the Holocaust”. Just stop.

  22. kNY says:

    Jeebus. If it were a super liberal celebrity who used to be a cocaine dealer, I’m sure the Right would be “Only in Hollywood could a drug dealer end up on a family TV show and make millions.” He shouldn’t crap on Hollywood.