Abe Foxman, Wole Soyinka, Tuvia Tenenbom

For immediate release

Liz Lauren, 212.494.0050, TheJTNY@aol.com.

Where Money Flows, Ideals Drown: The Shameful Pact Between Conservative and Liberal Multimillion-dollar Organizations Intended to Mislead the Public

In a suspicious deal under the table between two organizations that rely on charitable funding, the Anti-Defamation League (ADL) and Theatre Communications Group (TCG), Abe Foxman's ADL withdraws a previous press release in the dark of night

During a conference of Theatre Communications Group (TCG) held in Minnesota, Nobel laureate Wole Soyinka singled out Mr. Louis Farrakhan as an exemplary human being. When our theater's artistic director, Mr. Tuvia Tenenbom, objected to putting Mr. Farrakhan on a pedestal, given his record of anti-Semitic pronouncements, Mr. Soyinka angrily replied that certain groups (meaning Jews) always "complain" about racism, and then added that Mr. Farrakhan has of late scaled down his anti-Jewish remarks and therefore Mr. Tenenbom should basically just shut up.

Both The Jewish Theater of New York (JTNY) and the ADL issued press releases following this event. For obvious reasons, the TCG objected to them and asked for their removal. The JTNY agreed to pull out its press release on one condition: That the TCG make Mr. Soyinka's speech and Q&A session public, thus giving everyone the chance to see, hear, and then judge for themselves. At first, representatives of TCG promised to make the record available as of the 15th of June. But on the day prior, the TCG's Communications Director notified Mr. Tenenbom that the speech/Q&A session with Mr. Soyinka will NEVER be available. On that same date, ADL pulled out its June 11 press release (see below) from its website (adl.org). When Mr. Tenenbom called ADL to question the reasons behind this action, he was told that this step was taken per request of the JTNY. Mr. Tenenbom denied that the JTNY has ever made such a request and noted that the JTNY's own press release is still on its site (Press Release). When this first attempt at an excuse failed, Mr. Tenenbom was later told that the request was made by TCG and that it was Mr. Foxman who ordered the removal of the ADL's release. Despite a previous feud between the two persons, Mr. Tenenbom went on to call Mr. Foxman in order to ask for an explanation. Mr. Foxman responded that he pulled out the press release after he had "seen the transcripts"--provided for his eyes only by the TCG. When Mr. Tenenbom asked to see those transcripts as well, Mr. Foxman immediately hung up the phone.

The ADL, an organization with a rich history of fighting for human rights and freedom to all, is presently a multimillion dollar one-man operation. Everyone we spoke with at the ADL said they could not do anything, because "Abe Foxman is the boss of the bosses" and no-one can overrule his decisions. With no system of checks and balances, the ADL today is a slave to the caprice of one man.

A sad fact indeed.

As for the TCG, we believe that as the largest theater-related service organization in the country, drawing millions in foundations money, it should serve its members with dignity, honesty and fairness. Their first promise to give the JTNY an opportunity to repudiate Mr. Soyinka's remarks on the pages of their own publication (American Theatre), proved hollow in a matter of days. Their more important promise, to make Soyinka's remarks available to the public, proved a lie. It is in sorrow that the JTNY makes the decision to cancel its membership at the TCG effective today.

We call upon the TCG to make public Wole's keynote address and the Q&A session that followed, in an unedited version. Racism is racism, no matter who the injured party is. And anti-Semitism is anti-Semitism, no matter how many "Kosher Certificates" Abe Foxman is willing to issue to occasional partners in crime. Our country should be guided not by moneyed people and organizations but by just ideals and freedom to all.

That said, we would like to profusely thank the 30+ participants at the TCG conference who came to Mr. Tenenbom after Mr. Wole Soyinka's speech to share their anguish with him over Wole's anti-Semitic remarks. "This is really horrible," said one participant from Germany. "I am shocked," she said, "that you can talk like this here. In my country, you can't."

For more information regarding this Press Release please call Liz Lauren at 212.494.0050 or email to TheJTNY@aol.com

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ADL's Press Release, taken off ADL's site in a strange deal with TCG