NBC pulls 'Nurses' episode after critics slam scene as anti-Semitic (original) (raw)
Published on February 24, 2021 08:02PM EST
NBC has pulled episode 8 of the medical drama Nurses after critics labeled a scene featuring Orthodox Jews as anti-Semitic.
In the episode, an Orthodox man requires a bone graft from a deceased donor, but he and his father object to the procedure.
"A dead goyim leg?" the father asks. "From anyone? An Arab, a woman?"
The nurses, frustrated with the duo, push back against their beliefs.
Simon Wiesenthal Center, a global Jewish human rights organization, released a statement on Wednesday denouncing the scene.
"The writers of this scene check all the boxes of ignorance and pernicious negative stereotypes, right down to the name of the patient, Israel — paiyous and all," the statement began. "In one scene, NBC has insulted and demonized religious Jews and Judaism."
It continued: "Overreaction? Orthodox Jews are targeted for violent hate crimes — in the city of New York, Jews are number one target of hate crimes in U.S.; this is no slip of the tongue. It was a vile, cheap attack masquerading as TV drama. What's NBC going to do about it?"
The episode, which aired on Feb. 9, will no longer run on NBC and is being pulled from all of the network's digital platforms, EW has learned. The team at NBC has been contacted by leading Jewish organizations and is said to be open to having ongoing conversations.
NBC did not have creative input on Nurses, as it purchased the Canadian series in full from an external studio. The network acquired the show, which originally premiered on Canada's Global TV channel in January 2020, due to the shortage of programs during the COVID-19 pandemic. It premiered in the U.S. in December and its season finale aired Tuesday.
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