David Nesenoff, Rabbi Who Filmed Helen Thomas, Once Imitated A Mexican In Terrible Comedy Video

In the wake of Helen Thomas's retirement from Hearst and her departure from the White House Press Room, there's been some attempt to plumb the background of Rabbi David Nesenoff, who shot the infamous interview with Thomas for his videoblog, RabbiLive. What have they found? If I'm being honest, nothing much! Basically what's been unearthed is that Nesenoff is not cut out for sketch comedy.

Mediaite's Colby Hall thinks this is really important, so here you go:

Welcome to the second chapter of the story of Rabbi David Nesenoff. America first got to know this man as the guy who recorded Helen Thomas on his flip-cam saying what many believed to be offensive comments regarding Jews. But just just as a pendulum swings both ways, the nature of viral video swings back to reveal Mr. Nesenoff in what many will surely see as an offensive and stereotypical portrayal of Mexican-Americans in a hackneyed weatherman shtick.

Yeah, well, it's not going to be remembered as a particularly important or interesting chapter in this story. At issue is another YouTube video -- which you can see below -- that was posted by RaceWire. I'm not sure why Hall believes this clip to be a "viral" video (seeing as how it lacks the key ingredient of virality) or why he thinks it's an equal swing of a "pendulum." For their part, Racewire seems to understand that it's not exactly in possession of a smoking gun:

Anyway, here's a video from February of this year in which Rabbi Nesenoff dons a terrible Mexican impression and makes a lot of jokes about being detained by ICE. You've got a stronger stomach than me if you can make it past the one about being a dishwasher. What is it with these gotcha-guys and wigs?

If I had to offer an opinion of the content of the video, I'd say that Nesenoff isn't exactly poised for a future at the Upright Citizens Brigade and that the biggest flaw with his imitation of a Mexican priest is that his diction is awful to the point of utter incomprehensibility.

Obviously, if you showed me this a month ago and told me he'd be the guy who'd end Helen Thomas's career, I'd have thought you were crazy. And then, I'd have been wrong! It's not nothing, but that's pretty much the entirety of the valuable context this clip provides.

RELATED:
The man who brought down Helen Thomas [Dave Weigel]

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Comments

[Ramirez]

05:08 PM on 06/10/2010

Rabbi David Nesenoff has been posting the best of his hate mail. You can check it out here:

http://rabbilive.com/RabbiLIVE/Home.html

NSFW. Some of the language is quite harsh.

[Tulka2]

02:31 PM on 06/12/2010

A quick count came up with 16 notes from the wacko brigade. It's understandable why he didn't put up the more thoughtful negative responses... especially from American Jews... which i am sure he also received.

[Hutzpanit]

09:35 AM on 06/15/2010

LOL oh my word, how unintelligent some people are... my favorite is:

"Jews dont know how to talk. poor guys. the only way of redemption for them is to deny their own penis circumcision"

I also loved the one about Palestine being in Asia.

These people are like a car crash, you're repulsed but you just can't look away.

Thank you very much for the link.

[kplNYC]

10:20 AM on 06/10/2010

The only thing I was able to deduce from watching this, is that this guy shouldn't quite his day job. Reminds me of Michael Scott and his improve classes.

[kplNYC]

12:45 PM on 06/10/2010

Darn, I meant "improv" My typing skills are poor...

[Hutzpanit]

10:12 AM on 06/15/2010

You probably also meant quit.

[true story]

09:44 AM on 06/10/2010

Helen Thomas's has a right to her opinions but here remarks were insensitive and cruel and needed to be brought to light. She should be ashamed of herself and her apology is not sincere. Her only defense is that she is 89 and was caught off guard when a camera was shoved into her face. As a reporter she should have known better.

David Nesenoff was not acting as a Rabbi, he was acting as a film maker. His congregation recently severed its relationship with him. He has a long history of film making and trying to establish himself in the entertainment industry. His actions have been those of someone trying to promote himself and take full advantage of his 15 minutes of fame for personal gain. These are the actions of someone trying to make a movie, not the actions of a Rabbi and what he has done should be viewed in that context and not in the context of someone who represents any organization other than his own self interest.

[celmak]

12:00 PM on 06/10/2010

Problem is, ones laughing and the other is crying.

[Karin Barton]

05:56 PM on 06/13/2010

we'll see

[Hutzpanit]

09:38 AM on 06/15/2010

The "other" should cry and cry for a very long time.

[Perry Winkler]

11:34 AM on 06/15/2010

What Helen Thomas said was ruel? But the occupation is sensitive and humanitarian? I want whatever it is you are smoking.

[Kmetz]

08:58 AM on 06/10/2010

For all you liberals who have not realized that this is a parody of Cheech & Chong. A bad one, but nonetheless a parody. Stop calling every bigots, this is why we hate you.

[celmak]

12:01 PM on 06/10/2010

Fanned!

[Perry Winkler]

08:50 PM on 06/10/2010

and? Helen Thomas was referring to the illegal settlers in Occupied Palestine and not Israel but it didnt stop this a$$hat from smearing her all over the net

Aside from that Cheech Marin Is Mexican so he can do it

[Hutzpanit]

09:39 AM on 06/15/2010

And you know this how? the delightful ms. thomas was asked about Israel, not the settlements. Unless you watched another video that non of us have seen, if so please post a link where she states what you claim.

[meanguy]

06:41 AM on 06/10/2010

and after rooting around in the background of yet another person who dares to bring the true voice of a liberal icon out into the open, what has been learned of significance? to quote the article, "nothing much"

[espressobeans]

08:28 AM on 06/10/2010

I don't know. I learned that for him to run around claiming his feelings are hurt and he needs an apology is a pile of hypocrisy given his lack of empathy for anyone else's feelings. A classic case of crybaby dish it out and can't take it. I've also heard rumors of Fox News connections. Any truth to that? Given the lightning speed to which Ari Fleischer latched onto this incident, I suspect it was a set up and anything this "Rabbi" says about it is less than sincere. This article goes to his credibility whether the author gets it or not.

[Hutzpanit]

09:40 AM on 06/15/2010

Who is running around and claiming that their feelings are hurt and that an apology is needed? Can you clarify who made those statements?

[VanTroi]

10:50 PM on 06/09/2010

Jews for Helen Thomas

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k6LtrM8ozFk

[Tulka2]

12:25 AM on 06/10/2010

Thank you much.

[Karin Barton]

06:02 PM on 06/13/2010

I love them. Thanks for this link

[ALRIGHTALREADY]

07:01 PM on 06/09/2010

WHO CARES,,,,, It doesn't take away the bigotry of Thomas

[Karin Barton]

06:04 PM on 06/13/2010

She's never been a bigot, and she never will be

[Tulka2]

06:33 PM on 06/09/2010

Thank you for turning the camera around, Jason. Helen Thomas' remarks, blunt and uncompromising as they were, are the remarks of a woman who has paid close attention for years and i, for one, am interested in what she thinks. Her comments were anti-Zionist, not anti-Semitic. There's a difference. I know i am dealing with a different kind of bigot when someone tells me there is no difference between the two.

[alexa07]

12:07 AM on 06/10/2010

We have been deprived of a national treasure by the vested interests.

[Tulka2]

12:18 AM on 06/10/2010

Neoconservatives took down Dan Rather too. Rather correctly reported W. never served out his National Guard duty, but someone set him up with a fake document and the rest of the media did not support him. Well, the Thomas affair was a handy way to deflect attention from the nine killed by the IDF as they boarded the aid ship.

[Ahmed Rehab]

11:44 AM on 06/09/2010

This video is stomach churning. Thomas was wrong and apologized. Will this guy apologize and retire from his congregation?

[espressobeans]

11:27 PM on 06/09/2010

Somehow I doubt that guy actually has a congregation.

[StCuthbert]

04:15 PM on 06/10/2010

Wait...I thought her comments were justified. But then she apologized, which means they WEREN'T justified. I'm so confused...

[Karin Barton]

02:11 PM on 06/15/2010

Her apology expressed support and hope that there will be mutual respect and peace between Israelis and Palestinians. How likely do you think this is going to happen?

I'm pessimistic, like most people are by now, and not just since the flotilla raid.

Her initial comments expressed an alternative to the unlikely scenario above, identifying the European and American immigrants and occupiers as the obstacle to peace. The apparently mandatory pro-Israel view is that it's all the fault of the Arabs/Palestinians and their obstinacy and irrationality towards the Zionist colonial project.

Is it clear now?

[JerryG1]

11:19 AM on 06/09/2010

Helen Thomas' comments may (or may not) be anti-Semitic (hard to tell - Zionists always claim that any anti-Zionist view equates with being anti-Semitic. Some may be; many are not.) Thomas' comments were anti-Zionist.

I have seen several analogies of her comments - to blacks, native Americans, Europeans, etc.

A better analogy is to those who complain, sometimes bitterly, about the flood of immigrants into America. Ever has it been so: Italians, Irish, etc. Now, most loudly and bitterly, about Mexican immigrants, especially illegals. Witness the Arizona laws, protests, counter-protests, and the general discontent with having to listen to the option of answering-machine messages (etc.) in Spanish.

This discontent may be right, may be wrong.

But the general feeling (especially in the Southwest) is that the country has been overrun with immigrants, many illegal.

I think most people still root for the Jewish people. But imagine if the flood of immigrants in America also confiscated land, imprisoned objectors without trial, blocked travel, walled Arizona and imprisoned Arizonans because they didn't like who Arizonans elected.

Then those who now complain of immigrants might better understand what Helen Thomas feels she has observed in Lebanon and the middle east.

[CJCalgirl]

09:09 PM on 06/09/2010

Jerry, FANNED for a thoughtful, and I think, accurate post! I adore Helen, and women like her. Bella Abzug, Ann Richards, etc. who speak plainly, and often with a bit of humor.

[ebanks84]

11:09 AM on 06/09/2010

That wasn't even funny!

[Imokyrok]

09:41 AM on 06/09/2010

Remember the brave Turkish men who's lives were ended for daring to support the oppressed.
http://www.almanar.com.lb/NewsSite/NewsDetails.aspx?id=141121&language=en

Support Arab Israeli MP Haneen Zoubi who is being persecuted for her presence on the aid flotilla and her stance against Gazan genocide "lite".
http://www.almanar.com.lb/NewsSite/NewsDetails.aspx?id=141121&language=en

[Kmetz]

09:14 AM on 06/09/2010

ITS CHEECH & FRIGGIN CHONG!

[Tulka2]

06:27 PM on 06/09/2010

Hope you understand it is okay for people to mock the people of their own ethnic background. Begin to mock other ethnic backgrounds than your own and it is vulgar and creepy.

[Kmetz]

10:52 AM on 06/10/2010

ITS CHEECH & FRIGGIN CHONG! HE WAS MOCKING AN ACT! No story here, well except on the HP and Daily Kos.

[Hijacked]

08:53 AM on 06/09/2010

“They Dare to Speak Out” is a book that was written by former US Republican Congressman Paul Findley. It describes in details what happens to those people who dare to open their mouths to criticize Israel’s policies and the power of the Israel Political Action Committee (IPAC) in the US. It should put in perspective the Helen Thomas affair. After visit to Yemen to rescue an American from a Yemeni prison, he visited Israel for the first time and saw the injustices committed on the Palestinians and wanted to do something about it and what happened thereafter was his complete destruction from public life.

The destruction of those who criticize Israel is nothing new in the United States. It has happened to many prominent people, especially in the US because of the Jewish influence in this nation.

[asdusty]

08:45 AM on 06/09/2010

"So, in the land of the free, where freedom of speech is guaranteed under the constitution, a person who expresses what are deemed to be controversial views is effectively gagged...It is one of those rare occasions in which one can see clearly how people in America who are willing to express anti-establishment opinions are demonised, marginalised and finally excluded from public debate. "

http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/greenslade/2010/jun/08/freedom-of-speech-usa

[CJCalgirl]

09:11 PM on 06/09/2010

asdusty, Fanned!!

[Hutzpanit]

09:46 AM on 06/15/2010

No, not gagged at all. She was and still is free to run her bigoted mouth as she sees fit. But free speech is not without a price. To think otherwise is to be naive.

[Perry Winkler]

04:21 PM on 06/15/2010

Shes far from a bigot. You need to smear the woman just to make that so. Thats a crying shame that you cant do it with fact. You can only do it through repetitive fiction. Telling them to leave Palestine was nothing close to anti-zionist, nothing close to anti-semetic. The UN tells Israel to get out of Palestine in many UNGA resolutions. The Jews that are in Palestine are in Palestine for one reason only...theft of land. They are not there to be in israel or they would be in tel-aviv sipping coffee or anywhere else in Israel behind the blue line where they belong.
They only went because their fellow extremists recruited them for their holy unholy quest