System Update with Glenn Greenwald
Jul 20, 2026 · 20 min · 12 segments
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Glenn GreenwaldHost
Here is this very brave whistleblower in the tradition of Daniel Ellsberg and Edward Snowden, Chelsea Manning, and so many others, who has thrown caution to the wind and said, "I'm gonna blow the whistle on things that I think are really wrong, no matter how much, how angry it's gonna make people at the highest levels of my industry." His name is, uh, Mark Feuerstein.
He's an actor who has had some success appearing on some network sitcoms in the 1990s and into the 2000s, has had a fairly consistent history of being a paid actor, a working actor, which is very surprising because as he points out in this event at the, uh, 92nd Street Y, which is, uh, on the Upper West Side, a place where also there are almost no Jews, so it's a very courageous locale to pick as well to kind of come forward and, and blow the whistle.
He basically has come forward and, and said Hollywood is rife with antisemitism.
There you see the, the tweet, "Actor Mark Feuerstein laments, quote, 'antisemitism' and issues with Jewish representation in Hollywood.
Quote, 'Certain Jewish actors have had their publicist tell reporters, quote, "Don't ask about their trip to Israel or their time in Jewish summer camp.'" And we're gonna show you the video.
It's taken me a few days to kind of process, to reflect on, to think about, because some of what he has encountered and endured and confronted, or people that are close to him who have had to confront it, other Jewish people who are trying to make a living in Hollywood despite these decades-long barriers to the entrance of Jewish people and inside Hollywood because of the lack of Jewish leadership, Jewish representation, Jewish ownership in Hollywood, is, is actually quite horrific.
We haven't probably covered it as much as we should because the last time we covered it, we got a lot of pushback, a lot of repercussions, a lot of threats, I will say, from some very powerful people in, in Hollywood who don't like their antisemitism being exposed, who don't want it talked about how difficult it is for Jews to succeed in Hollywood and always has been.
The last time we talked about it was, uh, as a result of what the ADL did back in, uh, 2025, which was last year.
Jonathan Greenblatt, the executive director of the ADL, the Anti-Defamation League, which very bravely combats the scourge of antisemitism, which as they never tire of pointing out, is, is growing rapidly.
If your project of inclusion perpetuates the exclusion of Jews, you are failing.
So we applaud the many celebrities for their courage in standing up, speaking out, and writing to the Academy to demand change." And there you see a Hollywood Reporter article with many, uh, people who have, despite being Jewish, somehow succeeded in Hollywood: David Schwimmer and Michael Rapaport and Julian Margulies.
And he was referring to this Hollywood Reporter article, Julian Margulies, Greg Berlanti, Mayim Bialik, among 260 signatories of a letter to the Film Academy critiquing Jewish excluding from-- exclusion from diversity standards.
Apparently, Hollywood set out to try and ensure greater diversity in Hollywood, and they enacted standards for groups that some people like to claim have been historically excluded from Hollywood, even though they plainly haven't, like Black people or Muslims or various immigrants or gay people, whatever.
And that's what these Jewish celebrities with the assistance, the very brave assistance of the ADL, were objecting to.
Um, we said we don't really always praise the ADL, but credit where it's due.
Here is this very brave whistleblower in the tradition of Daniel Ellsberg and Edward Snowden, Chelsea Manning, and so many others, who has thrown caution to the wind and said, "I'm gonna blow the whistle on things that I think are really wrong, no matter how much, how angry it's gonna make people at the highest levels of my industry." His name is, uh, Mark Feuerstein.
He's an actor who has had some success appearing on some network sitcoms in the 1990s and into the 2000s, has had a fairly consistent history of being a paid actor, a working actor, which is very surprising because as he points out in this event at the, uh, 92nd Street Y, which is, uh, on the Upper West Side, a place where also there are almost no Jews, so it's a very courageous locale to pick as well to kind of come forward and, and blow the whistle.
He basically has come forward and, and said Hollywood is rife with antisemitism.
There you see the, the tweet, "Actor Mark Feuerstein laments, quote, 'antisemitism' and issues with Jewish representation in Hollywood.
Quote, 'Certain Jewish actors have had their publicist tell reporters, quote, "Don't ask about their trip to Israel or their time in Jewish summer camp.'" And we're gonna show you the video.
It's taken me a few days to kind of process, to reflect on, to think about, because some of what he has encountered and endured and confronted, or people that are close to him who have had to confront it, other Jewish people who are trying to make a living in Hollywood despite these decades-long barriers to the entrance of Jewish people and inside Hollywood because of the lack of Jewish leadership, Jewish representation, Jewish ownership in Hollywood, is, is actually quite horrific.
We haven't probably covered it as much as we should because the last time we covered it, we got a lot of pushback, a lot of repercussions, a lot of threats, I will say, from some very powerful people in, in Hollywood who don't like their antisemitism being exposed, who don't want it talked about how difficult it is for Jews to succeed in Hollywood and always has been.
The last time we talked about it was, uh, as a result of what the ADL did back in, uh, 2025, which was last year.
Jonathan Greenblatt, the executive director of the ADL, the Anti-Defamation League, which very bravely combats the scourge of antisemitism, which as they never tire of pointing out, is, is growing rapidly.
If your project of inclusion perpetuates the exclusion of Jews, you are failing.
So we applaud the many celebrities for their courage in standing up, speaking out, and writing to the Academy to demand change." And there you see a Hollywood Reporter article with many, uh, people who have, despite being Jewish, somehow succeeded in Hollywood: David Schwimmer and Michael Rapaport and Julian Margulies.
And he was referring to this Hollywood Reporter article, Julian Margulies, Greg Berlanti, Mayim Bialik, among 260 signatories of a letter to the Film Academy critiquing Jewish excluding from-- exclusion from diversity standards.
Apparently, Hollywood set out to try and ensure greater diversity in Hollywood, and they enacted standards for groups that some people like to claim have been historically excluded from Hollywood, even though they plainly haven't, like Black people or Muslims or various immigrants or gay people, whatever.
And that's what these Jewish celebrities with the assistance, the very brave assistance of the ADL, were objecting to.
Um, we said we don't really always praise the ADL, but credit where it's due.
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