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David Cross Trashes 'Alvin And The Chipmunks: Chipwrecked,' With Uncomfortable Jewish Comment

David Cross

First Posted: 01/10/12 08:56 AM ET Updated: 01/10/12 09:14 AM ET

David Cross hated his experience making "Alvin and the Chipmunks: Chipwrecked" so much, he's been actively campaigning against people heading to the theater to see it.

Appearing on "Conan" on Monday, Cross called the movie "In all honesty it was the most miserable experience I've ever had in my professional life." The star, who was raised Jewish but now identifies as an Atheist, then made a comment that could raise a firestorm -- if he weren't a comedian and crossing a line weren't his job.

Complaining that he was forced "at legal gunpoint" to spend a week on a cruise ship to film scenes in which he is covered, head to toe, in a pelican mascot costume, Cross called the exec behind the awful ocean ride "The personification of what people think about when they think negatively about Jews."

Conan acted surprised at the comment and quickly changed the discussion.

Beyond the dispute with the producer, Cross had other beefs with the third installment of the "Alvin" live action franchise, which he called a "big commercial for Carnival Cruise Lines." It was so bad, in fact, that while he had nothing but kind words to say for the cast and crew, he urged people not to see the film.

"If you see the movie -- and don't -- first of all, 'Chipwrecked,' it's a pun. Five year olds love puns," he joked.

This actually is not the first time the star has spoken out against the animated film.

"It's safe to say I won't be working with some of those people ever again," he told BlackBook Magazine in December. "Not the actors. And the director [Mike Mitchell] was great. We got along. It was just a really awful, unpleasant experience."

Critics have done the film no favors, either, giving it a 13% rating score on the site Rotten Tomatoes and calling it "the lowest common denominator family entertainment." Theatergoers have helped the film gross $240 million worldwide, though its opening weekend pull was about half of the first two films in the "Alvin" canon.

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David Cross hated his experience making "Alvin and the Chipmunks: Chipwrecked" so much, he's been actively campaigning against people heading to the theater to see it. Appearing on "Conan" on Monda...
David Cross hated his experience making "Alvin and the Chipmunks: Chipwrecked" so much, he's been actively campaigning against people heading to the theater to see it. Appearing on "Conan" on Monda...
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HUFFPOST SUPER USER
Clozure
Whovian Likes Papadum
08:20 AM on 02/05/2012
Newt Gingrich is the personification of what people think about when they think negatively about Christians, ie. hypocrisy, adultery, lies, judgement and homophobia, convenient picking & choosing morality points from the bible, the excess of amassing great personal wealth, degrading social outcasts and the poor, and promoting public prayer.
06:44 AM on 01/12/2012
Oh the horror, haven't they suffered enough? Even his name is an affront to a people upon whom no aspersion may be cast. Conan should have made him leave at commercial break. The utter insensitivity.
orthobobsuruncle
Insurance is not the same as welfare
05:15 AM on 01/12/2012
Maybe this is the best publicity such a film could get. Anyway, it won't make much difference because children are pretty undiscriminating, they don't care about the 3.3 rating. They think that a bunch of cartoon chipmunks singing totally inappropriate Lady Gaga songs is hilarious. Which makes ME fear for the future of the human race.
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Smarty5
Buy land, they're not making it anymore.
03:45 PM on 01/11/2012
Does anyone know the name of the producer?
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phantom power
my patronus is an x-wing
03:05 PM on 01/11/2012
I hope none of you hypocrites on here ever complain about your crappy jobs...
02:09 PM on 01/11/2012
David is a Hipster Deity, and he is trying to maintain hipster credibility. He has to smash this movie in public so it doesn't look like he has appeared as a "sell-out" He publicly smashed both the first and second chipmunks movies. Before now, he joked that it bought him a summer house. Now after doing three of the chipmunk movies, he has to make a big deal of how "awful" it was to follow shady Hollywood rules that he contractually agreed to, and resorting to calling somebody a "Jew" as if it's the number one Hollywood insult. It's really sad because I think he is a great comic and he goes off on a rant that parallels Mel Gibson. I hope he doesn't self-destruct like Lenny Bruce, Andrew "Dice" Clay or Sam Kinison. I really think he had been great in AD, ...Todd Margaret, and Mr. Show. I can't think of anything he has appeared in I haven't liked.
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phantom power
my patronus is an x-wing
03:05 PM on 01/11/2012
somebody sound jealous they keep getting overlooked...
04:10 PM on 01/16/2012
Maybe you can tell me what a hipster is....
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SamSeven
You're either with Humanity or you're not.
01:39 PM on 01/11/2012
what a whinner!
12:35 PM on 01/11/2012
Sounded like he was joking to me, which kind of makes sense since, ya know, he's a comedian.
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Rockwell
Recovering Reagan republican. 26 years sober.
12:28 PM on 01/11/2012
$240 million sounds like a great movie to me. The purpose was to seperate people from their cash. Mission accomplished.
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HUFFPOST SUPER USER
Van Hammersly
12:06 PM on 01/11/2012
Do y'alls people eat oatmeal?
11:45 AM on 01/11/2012
David Cross is cutting edge, always has been. He played a guy who fakes being mentally challenged in order to benefit from the sympathy of others on Just Shoot Me. He's a incorrect as it gets. Not for everyone- same as Kinison, Bruce, Dice, etc.
01:46 PM on 01/11/2012
You compare David Cross to Bruce, Dice, and Kinison?
Please, tell us more about everything there is to ever know about cutting edge comedy.
09:55 AM on 01/12/2012
Pardon me for getting your panties in a bunch. As you probably misread, the CUTTING EDGE is what compares Cross to the others. Not in any way suggesting equal ability- just their self-imposed limited commercial appeal. Sometimes that appeal gets magnified in spite of being off-putting if the artist is lucky. And/or skilled. No guarantees when dealing with public consumption.
Now if you have time, we'll discuss the reasons for liking the Rolling Stones over The Beatles. Or not. These 'who's better' discussions are rather silly, as you've proved here.

I'll leave you now- you're probably very busy. If you hadn't noticed, Jack's glass is empty again.
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HUFFPOST SUPER USER
HomerJFong
12:23 AM on 01/12/2012
MY PANTS ARE TIGHT!!!
10:01 AM on 01/12/2012
LOL I still say that today!
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HUFFPOST SUPER USER
geddy lee is a god
Real musicians use instruments, not auto-tunes
11:27 AM on 01/11/2012
Wait just a second. You mean to tell me that....

CONAN STILL COMES ON?

That should be the issue. David Cross' comments are secondary. LOL.
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HUFFPOST SUPER USER
Van Hammersly
12:13 PM on 01/11/2012
Hold the phone. People still listen to Rush? Crazy.
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HUFFPOST SUPER USER
geddy lee is a god
Real musicians use instruments, not auto-tunes
12:45 PM on 01/11/2012
I would imagine so, especially with people, you know, still recognizing their names and all.
11:08 AM on 01/11/2012
First of all, he's Jewish, so not sure what he was trying to say with his comment, but not necessary at all. Secondly, he should be glad to be a working actor as so many are out of work and can't pay the rent. I'm sure he got a great pay cheque for the job, he should be glad for that. Wow, tough job having to be on a cruise ship for a week, where do I sign up for that "tough job"? Part of his job is to go where he's supposed to and if he had to wear a costume, wow, what hard work that was. Talk to all of the people in America out of work who would kill to go on a cruise ship for a week and make a big pay cheque. The film is for kids, not adults, and kids enjoy it. Sounds like he's biting the hand that feeds him. And Conan lead him into the conversation because before the show someone talks to the guests to see what they want to talk about, so I'm sure Conan knew exactly what he was going to talk about, not the way he said it but the content was known, that's how talk shows work, so that the host can talk to the guests about what they want to talk about. Next time this guy should think before he opens his mouth.
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grant06
Socialism: Humanity's best future.
07:56 PM on 01/11/2012
We read the article.
10:50 AM on 01/11/2012
Oh Boo Hoo, he got paid a ton of money and had to wear a costume for a week. Gee, how awful...how can he tolerate life.

This guy needs to talk to an oil worker, a roofer, a waitress, really anybody who makes less doing far more than he did for a week of wearing a pelican costume.
10:17 AM on 01/11/2012
DeNiro: AH HAHA HAAAA YEAH, AH HAAA HAAA HAAAA