Leonard Bernstein’s family has spoken out to defend Bradley Cooper after he received anti-Semitism backlash for his upcoming Netflix movie Maestro.
Cooper takes on the lead role and directs Maestro, a biopic chronicling the life of the famed composer Leonard Bernstein. The Netflix film also stars Carey Mulligan as his wife Felicia Montealegre Cohn Bernstein, while none other than Martin Scorsese and Steven Spielberg are on producing duties.
When the teaser trailer dropped this week, some fans praised Cooper’s unbelievable transformation. But others criticized the actor – who is of Irish-Italian descent – for wearing a prosthetic nose to portray a Jewish character, accusing him of anti-Semitism.
Amid the ongoing backlash, Bernstein’s children Jamie, Alexander, and Nina have defended the star.
Bernstein family defend Bradley Cooper amid Maestro backlash
The Bernsteins shared a statement on August 16, which reads: “Bradley Cooper included the three of us along every step of his amazing journey as he made his film about our father.
“We were touched to the core to witness the depth of his commitment, his loving embrace of our father’s music, and the sheer open-hearted joy he brought to his exploration.
“It breaks our hearts to see any misrepresentations or misunderstandings of his efforts. It happens to be true that Leonard Bernstein had a nice, big nose.
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“Bradley chose to use makeup to amplify his resemblance, and we’re perfectly fine with that. We’re also certain that our dad would have been fine with it as well.
“Any strident complaints around this issue strike us above all as disingenuous attempts to bring a successful person down a notch – a practice we observed all too often perpetrated on our own father.”
They finished by writing: “At all times during the making of this film, we could feel the profound respect and yes, the love that Bradley brought to his portrait of Leonard Bernstein and his wife, our mother Felicia.
“We feel so fortunate to have had this experience with Bradley, and we can’t wait for the world to see his creation.”
Maestro drops on Netflix on September 2. You can read more about the backlash here, and check out some of our other Netflix coverage below:
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