Jewish Museum in Prague says celebrity's "joke" shamelessly disparages Holocaust martyrs
The director of the Jewish Museum in Prague, Leo Pavlát, has objected to a performance by the actor Štěpán Kozub, who gave a show at the O2 Arena in Prague at the close of December 2022. Kozub's "joke" defaming Holocaust victims was then criticized on news server Romea.cz by the journalist Patrik Banga.
Kozub has since told the Czech News Agency (ČTK) that he will not comment on reactions to his performance. “The Czech comedian Štěpán Kozub, during his performance at the O2 Arena on 29.12.2022, recycled as a funny story a mocking smirk that originally defamed victims of the Shoah, replacing a reference to Jews with a reference to Roma in his version, who were also Holocaust victims. In the name of the Jewish Museum in Prague, which includes the Memorial to the Victims of the Shoah from the Czech Lands, I express my disgust at such cynicism. The laughter of numerous audience members after this shameless disparagement of those martyrs was not just an endorsement of Kozub’s hurtful stubbornness, but also evidence of moral decadence of a more general scope,” Pavlát posted to Facebook.
Kozub told a joke about how after the Second World War, a bus full of Roma took a trip to look at the ghettos so they would never be repeated. Their guide goes to announce that “a bus full of gypsies” has arrived and the gatekeeper answers: “We’re not doing that here anymore.”
“The audience appreciated this ‘joke’. I didn’t. Probably nobody whom I know or whom I’m friends with would appreciate it. We’re just a different gang. The video of it is going viral and people are ‘liking’ it, and that necessarily leads one to reflect on where we are as a society. If this joke were to be told, not about Roma, but about Jews, homosexuals or Czechs, then would Mr. Kozub’s anecdote have seemed funny to you? Probably not,” Banga wrote in his commentary for news server Romea.cz.
Kozub, who is an actor, comedian, director and singer, brought his stand-up show to the O2 Arena on 28 and 29 December to thousands of people. The 26-year-old is one of the boldest actors of his generation, beginning his career in Ostrava at the Divadlo Mír theater.
He uses his comedic talent in the Tři Tygři improv group, in film, and in TV series, playing more than 40 roles in different genres. Kozub is also a big favorite online, where his sketches on YouTube have been viewed tens of millions of times.
