A movie theater in the Portland, Oregon, area is facing intense backlash after displaying a marquee advertisement for Christopher Nolan's upcoming film "The Odyssey" that critics have condemned as antisemitic. The Lake Theater and Cafe in Lake Oswego posted a message reading, "Before there were the Jews, there was... The Odyssey," sparking outrage among Jewish community leaders and residents who called the statement historically false and offensive.
The Jewish Federation of Greater Portland issued a strong condemnation of the marquee. President and CEO Marc Blattner told Fox News Digital that the organization and the broader Jewish community were deeply offended by the wording. "Despite calls and emails, the theater only responded to the press. His comments literally minimizing antisemitism in our country was shameful," Blattner said.
Critics pointed out that the marquee's claim is historically inaccurate. Scholars generally date the composition of Homer's epic "The Odyssey" to the 8th century B.C., while Jewish history and the Israelites predate that period by several centuries. The message was reportedly removed from one side of the marquee on July 16 but remained on the other side as of July 17, according to OregonLive, which cited local residents.
Rabbi Eve Posen of Congregation Neveh Shalom in Portland wrote a lengthy Facebook post criticizing the marquee and linking it to a broader pattern of antisemitism. She noted that a car belonging to a member of the Jewish community had recently been vandalized with swastikas, writing, "Not in Germany. Not eighty years ago. Here. Today." Posen argued that the marquee was both historically false and unnecessarily provocative. "The statement is historically false. More importantly, it raises a painful question: why invoke Jews at all? A clever movie promotion could have celebrated one of the oldest stories ever told without unnecessarily positioning Judaism as an afterthought or a comparison," she wrote. "In a moment when antisemitism is already at historic levels, casually inserting Jews into a narrative where we do not belong doesn't feel harmless. It feels like another reminder that our story is somehow expendable, that our history can be rewritten or diminished for the sake of a punchline."
Israeli influencer Hen Mazzig also slammed the theater on social media, calling the marquee "objectively untrue" in a post on X. "Why is something existing before Jews a selling point? Do they think the story is somehow 'untainted' by Jews?" Mazzig wrote. "What disgustingly blatant antisemitism."
Lake Theater and Cafe manager Jordan Perry defended the marquee in a text message to The Lake Oswego Review, saying he was trying to challenge what society considers antisemitic. "My intention is never to influence opinion or fan flames, but to say: it's okay to raise eyebrows, though I hope my messages reflect a depth of understanding others find in themselves but not always in the world around them," Perry wrote. He claimed that he believes "modern-day antisemitism is exaggerated, mostly as a defense for Israel's actions in the Middle East and its involvement in our politics." Perry added that his intention was to "push back culturally on what constitutes antisemitism, to signal, in solidarity, that it's not about 'the Jews,' that it's about Israel, and Palestine, and Lebanon, and Iran, and AIPAC. This is my 'humor,' this was the point, intentionally subtle, of what I put on the marquee."
The theater has a history of posting edgy messages on its marquee. When the documentary "Melania" about former first lady Melania Trump was released, the theater posted marquees that included, "Does Melania wear Prada? Find out Friday!" and "To defeat your enemy. You must know them. Melania." The theater claimed in an Instagram post that Amazon was upset by those marquees and subsequently pulled the film from its schedule.
The incident comes amid a nationwide rise in antisemitic incidents. According to the Anti-Defamation League, antisemitic incidents in the United States reached an all-time high in 2023, with a significant increase following the October 7 Hamas attack on Israel. The marquee controversy has reignited debates about the boundaries of free speech and the responsibility of businesses to avoid promoting hateful or misleading messages.
Local Jewish leaders have called for a boycott of the theater until it issues a formal apology and takes steps to educate its staff about antisemitism. The Lake Theater and Cafe has not yet issued a public apology or announced any changes to its marquee policy.
