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