'This just isn’t OK': SWFL anti-hate group upset with Mann Hall for scheduling Roseanne Barr
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Roseanne Barr recently said the Holocaust did not happen, which enraged many including a multi-religious group that recently formed to educate and monitor hate in Southwest Florida
Lisa Freund, a member of the Interfaith Alliance of Southwest Florida that began in April, said she wasn't surprised by Barr's remarks. But she became more upset earlier this week when Barbara B. Mann Performing Arts Hall in Fort Myers announced it had scheduled a Barr standup show for this fall.
“My goal is to get a number of individuals that I know to contact Barbara B. Mann and express their dismay," said Freund, a seasonal Naples resident since 2012, who also lives in Massachusetts.
“They need to hear from their ticket buyers that this just isn’t OK. They need to be aware that there are people in Collier and Lee counties because (Interfaith Alliance) represents both. We're watching and paying attention.”
Barbara B. Mann officials were unavailable for comment Thursday.
Roseanne Barr: What she said
Barr, speaking on This Past Weekend with host Theo Von, who's also a standup comedian and actor, said "nobody died in the Holocaust."
She made the remarks about 1 hour and 15 minutes into the 2½-hour podcast that's on YouTube. Barr's comments went viral earlier this week when The Daily Beast published a story about them.
About 6 million Jews died in the Holocaust in Europe during World War II.
"There's such a thing as the truth and facts and we have to stick to it," Barr said on the podcast. "And nobody died in the Holocaust either. That's the truth. It should happen. Six million Jews should die right now because they cause all the problems in the world."
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Interfaith Alliance formed in April
The comments drew immediate condemnation worldwide. Barr's remarks come after a controversial 2018 tweet about a Black woman who was a senior adviser to Barack Obama throughout his presidency. The tweet compared her to the offspring of the “Muslim Brotherhood & Planet of the Apes." Barr later apologized but ABC canceled a reboot of her popular 1980s and '90s "Roseanne" sitcom.
Freund said she's not out to cancel the Fort Myers show, scheduled for Oct. 7 with tickets going on sale at 10 a.m. Friday. Barr's other Florida shows are in Melbourne and Clearwater.
"It's not cancel culture," Freund said. "What I’m saying is it’s important for people in the community to know the kind of things performers say and make their own judgments.”
Interfaith Alliance formed in April and has grown to more than 180 members from various faiths including Jewish, Christian, Buddhist, Freund said. The group works to educate and monitor all forms of hate and racism in Collier and Lee counties and represent and support those who are mistreated.
Rise of antisemitism in Southwest Florida
Freund pointed to the current climate of antisemitism and Holocaust denial coinciding with the rise of hate speech throughout the U.S., including Southwest Florida.
"It's right here at home," said Freund, who's Jewish. "We’ve been monitoring what’s been going on. It’s on the rise, absolutely, in Collier and Lee counties.”
On the morning of Mother's Day, May 14, the Texas-based neo-Nazi group Aryan Freedom Network distributed 70 flyers on driveways in Naples Park that some civil rights groups say was aimed at intimidating minorities. The flyers included the wording “WHITE-POWER.ORG; DISTRIBUTED RANDOMLY WITHOUT MALICIOUS INTENT,” depicting an image of a white couple with a baby.
CCSO: 'Suspicious incident': Neo-Nazi group flyers left in Naples Park didn't target specific people
The Collier County Sheriff's Office, who confiscated the flyers, said they were investigating the flyer drop-off as a "suspicious incident" but didn't believe they were targeting specific people.
Other reports of antisemitism in Southwest Florida in the past 1½ years:
In April, Cape Coral police arrested Maron Mark Raymon for his alleged attack on the Chabad Jewish Center. Video showed the suspect throwing bricks at the center's door, toppling a colorful, large image of a menorah and destroying a car.
Leaflets containing a variety of antisemitic statements in July 2022 were left on driveways along Seagate Drive in Naples. Similar leaflets at that time showed up on driveways from Miami to Jacksonville and in Sarasota.
Antisemitic leaflets in late May 2022 were placed on parked cars at Coconut Point and Miromar Outlets, the Lee County Sheriff's Office reported. The leaflets displayed derogatory terminology toward the Jewish community and referred to Gov. Ron DeSantis as their "glorious leader."
Two teens were sentenced to probation in March 2022 after they vandalized the Bonita Springs home of Mendy Greenberg, rabbi and director at Chabad of Bonita Springs and an FGCU adjunct professor. They destroyed a mailbox, broke a car window and spray-painted the driveway with the word “Jew’s."
Antisemitic flyers in February 2022 were distributed to some homes off McGregor Boulevard in Fort Myers. The flyers bore several slogans including "Anti-semitism is a human right."
'People are fed up'
Hate speech, Freund said, has been fueled by political leaders and celebrities "who have been legitimizing antisemitism as a mainstream view."
“There’s been legtimacy granted to organizations like the Proud Boys and other Christian nationalist, white supremacist leaders," she said.
And Freund stressed that the Interfaith Alliance of Southwest Florida serves those mistreated in society, including the LGBTQ+ community. The Alliance ― which she said is looking to increase its members ― also will work to thwart book bans and challenge restrictions of academic freedom.
"This group will advocate for an inclusive vision of religious freedom challenging both the idea that any religion is the single, authentic voice of faith and the deeply harmful effects of extremist rhetoric and legislation," said its news release.
“It’s the right time," Freund added. "It’s broad and it’s for anyone who is considered ‘the other.' People are fed up.”
Dave Osborn is the regional features editor of the Naples Daily News and News-Press. Follow him on Instagram @lacrossewriter and on Twitter @NDN_dosborn.
This article originally appeared on Naples Daily News: Roseanne Holocaust comments: SW Florida anti-hate group speaks out
