A controversy is mounting as a TikTok video apparently poking fun at how Nazis marked their victims at death camps with tattooed numbers received more than 600,000 views.
The video was uploaded on April 28 and has now found its way into headlines, with the Jewish Chronicle calling it “openly antisemitic” in a scathing report. It’s just a few seconds long and shows a “Jewish guy” getting into a taxi, where the driver asks him his name. The passenger rolls up his sleeve “to check” and the driver delivers the punchline:
“No I don’t want your number,” he mouths in synch with the lyrics of the song ‘No Scrubs’ by TLC, which serves as the background for the entire video.
Judging by the comments under the over-the-top joke, most viewers were more astonished by where the author dared to go with it, rather than being appalled by the topic. “Oh my god you cant [sic!] say that,” one commenter said, adding three smiley faces. “Jesus Christ am I going to hell more because I’m german and laughed,” said another one. “i sent this to my jewish friend… i hope she still loves me after this,” yet another response read.
Other people obviously found the video deeply offensive. According to the Jewish Chronicle, “numerous complaints” about the video have been sent to TikTok, which apparently has failed to act on them so far.
As accusations of anti-Semitism grew in number, the content creator, a British man named Bradley Brooker, who plays both roles in the video, said people shouldn’t read too much into the clip. “If you read through the comments on the video there have been Jewish people finding the funny side to it. It’s not me hating a religion – it’s just a joke,” he posted on Monday.
Brooker’s other videos follow the same pattern. They feature him lip-syncing to popular songs and internet memes, taking them out of context in humorous and sometimes dark ways.
For instance, the song ‘She’s So Lovely’ by the band Scouting for Girls takes a dark turn when Brooker puts the lyrics: “A stunner, I want her, was she this fit when she was 10 years younger?” into the mouth of a creepy stalker character.
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