Tovah Feldshuh has dismissed reports of 'rising tension' among the cast of the Netflix romcom Nobody Wants This following co-star Adam Brody's comments on the Israel-Gaza conflict. In a Threads post, the actress wrote: 'Tensions are NOT RISING,' adding that 'profound differences of opinion are' and that none of it would be brought to the set.
Brody's Comments Spark Debate
In a September interview, Brody, 46, expressed support for a free Palestine, describing the ongoing conflict as a 'genocide.' 'Put me down as wanting a free Palestine,' he said. His co-star Feldshuh, 77, who plays his mother on the show, responded by saying it was 'right out of Hitler's playbook' to 'accuse the Jewish people of genocide.'
Brody also spoke about the state of modern Hollywood, saying: 'Between COVID, a second Trump term, Israel-Gaza, it's really brought out some different beliefs that I was ignorant to, and then disheartened by.' He added: 'Put me down as thinking it's a genocide. Put me down as wanting a free Palestine. It's awful that it's taken so much death and misery, but it does feel like it's reaching a breaking point that it should have a while ago.'
Feldshuh's Response
In a subsequent interview with The New York Post, Feldshuh described Brody's position as 'wild,' saying: 'You take the victim and you make the victim the perpetrator.' She expressed her belief that the existence of Israel is 'crucial to the well-being of the democratic world and of the free world.'
On working with Brody, she said: 'My job, as Bina but also as Tovah, is to love the people on set at my place of work, to be kind.' She described herself as 'thrilled and proud' to play the Jewish matriarch, and her strategy for handling differences of opinion is to 'switch channels and do my job.'
Creator Erin Foster Weighs In
Show creator Erin Foster described the situation as 'complicated,' saying on her Skinny Not Fat podcast: 'I think our work environment, our set is very similar to dinner tables around the world where people are having debate and discussion and disagreeing.' She added: 'While I love Adam, I also disagree with him, and that's okay.'
Foster described the show as a 'love letter to Judaism,' explaining: 'That is why I made this show. It's because of how beautiful of an experience I've had becoming Jewish and being a Jewish person, and sitting here right now at this time in the world where there is almost zero positive representation of Jewish people, I think it's so important to have that.'
Series three of Nobody Wants This is streaming now on Netflix UK.
