Comic Larry David rancorously struck back at the Tony Awards judges on Sunday night from the show’s central podium, blaming antisemites for snubbing him a nomination for his Broadway show Fish in the Dark.
David made the comments standing alongside Jason Alexander, who long played David’s cantankerous alter-ego on the Seinfeld sitcom and who will take over as the lead character in Fish in the Dark following David’s final performance, also on Sunday.
David began his speech by explaining that “The true measure of a man is not to be nominated and still show up to read a list of names of those who are nominated. That’s a big man;. That’s a big, big man.”
Continuing, he said: “People who, if it were up to them, would put aside the obvious antsemitism — yeah, that’s right, I said it; I said it — the antisemitism that denies a nomination to a Larry David or a Harvey Weinstein. Then, yes, I am a loser.”
Neither Fish in the Dark — about fifteen relatives coping with a death in the family — nor producer Weinstein’s grandiose Finding Neverland productions received Tony nods this year.
Still, jokes aside, David obviously had something to be proud about in Fish in the Dark: the play’s advance sale, totaling $13.5 million, broke Broadway records.
