Marlon Brando: On the Record
This page records specific public conduct. It does not claim knowledge of private beliefs or motives.
Documented record
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April 5, 1996: On CNN's Larry King Live on Friday, April 5, 1996, Marlon Brando said "Hollywood is run by Jews. It's owned by Jews," and, complaining that Jewish filmmakers showed insufficient sensitivity to ethnic stereotyping, used an antisemitic slur while listing minority stereotypes he said had appeared on screen but claiming Jews alone had been spared.
Hollywood is run by Jews. It's owned by Jews, and they should have a greater sensitivity about the issue of people who are suffering. ... [Brando went on to list ethnic-slur stereotypes of other groups shown on screen and used an antisemitic slur, concluding] Because they knew perfectly well that that is where you draw the wagons around.
Source 1 Source 2
Context and response
Brando met privately for three hours with Rabbi Marvin Hier of the Simon Wiesenthal Center and other Jewish leaders on Friday, April 12, 1996; per Deseret News he broke down and wept within 30-45 seconds, cited his admiration for Jewish figures like Lew Wasserman, and committed to writing a newspaper piece and appearing on further TV to clarify his position. Rabbi Hier told press afterward, "I am satisfied after spending three hours with the man, that Marlon Brando is not an anti-Semite" (confirmed via a search-engine snippet of the CNN article itself). Per the Roanoke Times, Brando also said on-air, "I will be the first one who will praise the Jews honestly and say, 'Thank God for the Jews,'" and denied his remarks were antisemitic.
Where Galil stands
Our opinion: We don't wave this one through just because he cried about it afterward: telling a national TV audience that Jews "own" Hollywood and then reaching for a slur to make the point is a textbook antisemitic trope, and Galil doesn't pretend otherwise — even as we note he walked it back to Rabbi Hier's face.
Sources manually reviewed 2026-07-27. Corrections and later context will be appended to this page.