theatre
February 22, 2023 | 9:45 o clock
‘Parade’ star Ben Platt (left) slammed neo-Nazi protesters who called the show’s main character a pedophile. Johanna Marcus
Ben Platt spoke Wednesday after a group of “really disgusting” neo-Nazis protested outside the Bernard B. Jacobs Theater against the musical “Parade.”
The Tony-winning film “Parade” tells the true story of Jewish factory worker Leo Frank, who was wrongfully imprisoned in Georgia in 1913 after being accused of raping and murdering a 13-year-old girl. He was kidnapped from prison and lynched. On Tuesday, previews began for the revival, which will officially open on March 16.
A video posted on Twitter by Forward’s engagement editor Jake Wasserman shows anti-Semitic protesters calling themselves the National Socialist Movement shouting hateful rhetoric.
“You want to know the truth about who you’re going to see tonight,” one of the group members yelled. “You’re paying $300 to make a pedophile king, you might as well know what you’re talking about.”
“Romanticizing pedophiles wow Leo Frank,” shouted another.
Other outlets reported members chanting, “[Leo Frank is] a Jewish pedophile,” while others held up a banner that read, “Leo Frankly was a pedo.”
“I got off the stage and looked at social media and of course word of the fact that there were some protesters at our show got around a lot and that sort of caught on [been] stamp the evening in the public eye,” said Ben Platt (left, in the role of Leo Frank). Emilio Madrid
Aquarius too retweeted a photo of the flyers the protesters circulated and criticized the Anti-Defamation League, which they claim was “formed in 1913 to protect a Jewish child who murdered the pedophile Leo Frank.”
Platt, 29, took to Instagram to call out to the protesters.
“I got off the stage and looked at social media and of course word of the fact that there were some protesters at our show got around a lot and that sort of caught on [been] put the stamp on the evening in terms of the public’s perception of the evening,” Platt said.
Previews for the show, which will officially open on March 16, began on Tuesday. Joan Marcus
“For those who don’t know, there were a couple of neo-Nazi protesters from a really disgusting group outside the theater who harassed some of our guests on their way in and said anti-Semitic things about Leo Frank, who the show is about and just the proliferation of anti-Semitic rhetoric that led to this whole story in the first place,” Platt continued.
“If you don’t know about this I encourage you to look up the story and most of all I encourage you to watch the show and it was definitely very ugly and scary but a wonderful reminder of why we are telling this particular story and how art and especially theater can be special and powerful. And I felt special, special, grateful to be the one who gets to tell this special story and carry on Leo’s legacy.”
Platt also thanked the theater staff for keeping the audience and cast “super safe and secure,” adding, “Now really is the moment for this special play.”
See more
The National Socialist Movement, a neo-Nazi hate group, is protesting outside the Broadway revival of “Parade,” stating that Leo Frank, the subject of the musical, was a pedophile. pic.twitter.com/wbGMjRubZL
— Jake Wasserman (@jacobhwasserman) February 22, 2023
The show’s producers also issued a statement that echoed Platt’s words.
“If there is still doubt out there about the urgency of telling this story at this moment in history, the abomination shown tonight should put your mind at ease,” the producers said in a statement to People.
This is the first revival of “Parade”. Michael Arden directs the show, with lyrics and music by Jason Robert Brown and a book by Alfred Uhry. The show opens on Broadway on March 16 after selling out at the New York City Center.
The original musical, directed by Harold Prince, premiered on Broadway in 1998 and received two Tony Awards and nine nominations.
Load More…
{{#isDisplay}} {{/isDisplay}}{{#isAniviewVideo}} {{/isAniviewVideo}}{{#isSRVideo}} {{/isSRVideo}}
https://nypost.com/2023/02/22/anti-semitic-protestors-storm-ben-platts-parade-on-broadway/?utm_source=url_sitebuttons&utm_medium=site%20buttons&utm_campaign=site%20buttons
Copy the URL to share