52 | MAY 4 • 2023 

GROSSBERG AND 
CARLSON, BELAFONTE 
FAMILY, AND NEW SHOWS

As I write this, it’s eight 
hours after the news broke 
that Tucker Carlson was no 
longer a Fox News employ-
ee. It’s quite clear he was 
fired. Right after the news 
broke, a CNN early morning 
newscaster went through 
the “things” that might have 
led-up to this — and men-
tioned the lawsuit that Abby 
Grossberg, 42, a former 
Fox News producer, had 
brought against Fox News. 
The newscaster said that 
Grossberg, who was the 
head booker of guests for 
the Carlson show, alleged 
“that there was a discrimi-
natory atmosphere in Fox 
newsroom which affected 
women and religious minori-
ties.” 
I thought, what “religious 
minorities?” How many 
Hindus, Muslims or Sikhs 
work for Fox News? Not 
many, I’m sure. I figured it 
was the usual news media 
misleading mishegas (non-
sense). Until recently, most 
mainstream news outlets 
never, ever, mentioned 
that hate crimes against 
American Jews equaled 
or exceeded hate crimes 
against all other religious 
groups combined. Only 
a spate of recent serious 
antisemitic events led some 
mainstream media outlets to 
mention this fact — and they 
only do so “now and again.” 
I hadn’t followed 
Grossberg’s lawsuit that 
closely. When it was filed 
in March, the articles I read 
didn’t mention Grossberg’s 
complaint alleging antisem-
itism in the Fox newsroom. 
Today, I found some March 

articles that did mention 
that antisemitism is in the 
complaint. But all but one of 
these articles did not repeat 
the instances of antisemitic 
harassment that are laid out 
in Grossberg’s complaint. 
So far as I can tell, only the 
Forward newspaper did that 
last March.
The worst actor was 
Alexander McCaskill, senior 
producer of Carlson’s show. 
Without going into detail — 
McCaskill repeatedly nee-
dled Grossberg and another 
Jewish employee with what 
I’d call petty, but hurtful, 
antisemitic “junk” remarks. 
McCaskill obviously 
thought he could get away 
with these remarks, as well 
as sexism, because the 
“big bosses” — Carlson 
and the Murdochs — set 
a “tone.” Carlson clearly 
engaged in “dog whistle” 
antisemitism — blaming 
almost everything on Jewish 
billionaire George Soros 
and pushing the conspiracy 
theory that Soros and oth-
ers were “replacing white” 
Americans with people 
of color. This “theory” is a 
favorite of neo-Nazis. 
Discrimination is just one 
prong of Grossberg’s case. 
She also claims that Fox 
News lawyers coerced her 
into giving a misleading 
deposition in the Dominion 
suit.
As the day went on, sever-
al CNN and MSNBC guests 
said that Grossberg’s case 

could cost Fox News a lot of 
money, and Fox News wants 
to stop the “bleeding.” Their 
position would be stronger, 
they said, if Fox could tell a 
jury that Carlson is gone. 
As I finished writing this 
column, the news came that 
legendary singer/actor Harry 
Belafonte had died, age 
96. Here is his Jewish 411. 
Harry wrote in his memoir 
that his paternal grandfa-
ther was a Dutch Jew who 
settled in the Caribbean. 
However, Harry never met 
this grandfather, and the 
best sources say that it’s 
“possible” that he had a 
Jewish grandfather, but this 
has never been verified. 
Harry was raised Catholic. 
As for his children: his 
daughter, Shari Belafonte, 
now 68, was a popular 
actress in the ’80s. She’s 
the child of Harry’s first 
wife, a non-Jewish African 
American woman. Shari’s 
husband since 1989 is 
Jewish actor Sam Behrens, 
now 72. He had big roles in 
General Hospital and Knots 
Landing, but his career 
cooled off around 1990. The 
couple don’t have children. 
Shari’s half-sister, actress 
Gina Belafonte, now 61, has 
worked in small film and 
TV roles to this day, and 
she is a political activist, 
like Harry. Her mother is 
former (Jewish) dancer Julie 
Robinson, now 94. Robinson 
and Harry were married 
from 1957-2004. Gina’s hus-

band is not Jewish. They 
have one child. 
Harry and Julie also had 
a son, David, 65. He is now 
the head of the Belafonte 
Family Foundation. (Harry 
married photographer 
Pamela Frank in 2008. She’s 
now his widow. There’s 
almost no “bio” on her). 
Silo is a 10-episode series 
that begins streaming on 
Apple TV+ on May 5. It is 
based on a best-selling 
trilogy of “dystopian” novels. 
The official description says: 
“In a toxic dystopian future 
where a community exists 
in a giant silo hundreds of 
stories deep underground, 
men and women live in a 
society full of regulations 
they believe are meant to 
protect them.” 
 Advance publicity doesn’t 
detail the “backstory” of the 
main characters. I can tell 
you that Rashida Jones, 47, 
co-stars as “Allison.” 
The Game Show Show 
is an ABC and Hulu four-
part documentary series 
that premieres on May 10 
(10 p.m.). The final three 
episodes premiere on 
successive Wednesdays. It’s 
a fun look at over 80 years 
of game shows, starting 
with radio programs and 
then, into the era of TV. 
There are a lot of game 
clips and interviews with 
contemporary celebrities. 
These celebs include Howie 
Mandel, 67, and Marc 
Cuban, 64. 

CELEBRITY NEWS

NATE BLOOM COLUMNIST

ARTS&LIFE

NBC NEWS

Abby Grossberg

IMDB

Gina Belafonte

STEPHANIE MORENO/WIKIPEDIA

Rashida Jones

