Okay, sure, the big ‘speech’ on Christmas Day might typically come from a guy in a palace – or maybe your mum after one too many glasses of Prosecco.
But there is also an ‘alternative’ Christmas address today (25 December) from Stephen Fry on Channel 4.
And it includes a very important message.
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The self-declared atheist and humanist is calling for us all to ‘recognise and call out antisemitism for the racism it is’.
This comes following a rise in antisemitism in the UK following the 7 October Hamas attacks and response from Israel on Palestine.
It is important to note that Islamophobia is also rising in the UK.
Earlier this month Labour MP Naz Shah said: “According to the latest statistics, there has been a 600% rise in Islamophobic incidents here in the UK, including both verbal and physical abuse as well as vandalism, such as the dumping of a pig’s head at a proposed mosque in the market town of Barnoldswick. That is not all that is happening when it comes to Islamophobia. The recorded incidents are just a snapshot of a picture that is much uglier than any stats can paint. Make no mistake, Islamophobia is an entire industry.”
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Fry revealed he has had to ‘overtly claim his Jewish heritage in order to stand up to hateful abuse’.
The former QI host also celebrated how far Britain has come in accepting and tolerating difference since he was a young lad – highlighting his own previous fears of acceptance as a gay man.
He said: “One truth about myself however, that I never thought for one single second would ever be an issue about which I had any cause to worry in this country, was that I’m a Jew.”
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Referencing an increase in incidents of antisemitism in London since 7 October, Fry added: “There is real fear stalking the Jewish neighbourhoods of Britain. Jewish people here are becoming fearful of showing themselves. In Britain, in 2023. Can you imagine, Jews afraid to be themselves in the open for fear of reprisal?”
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The actor is now calling on all of us to stand up to antisemitism as we would any form of racism as he stated: “Standing upright means speaking up and calling out venomous slurs and hateful abuse wherever you encounter them.
“Knowing and loving this country as I do, I don’t believe that most Britons are ok living in a society that judges hatred of Jews to be the one acceptable form of racism. So speak up, stand with us, be proud to be Jewish or Jew-ish - or, if not Jewish at all, proud to have us as much a part of this great nation as any other minority, as any of you.”
LADbible condemns any islamophobia and antisemitism.
Stephen Fry’s Alternative Christmas Message will air at 17:10 today.
Featured Image Credit: Channel 4/Samir Hussein/WireImage/Getty ImagesTopics: World News, Christmas, Celebrity, UK News, Racism, TV and Film