to express support for Endeavor CEO Ari Emanuel’s call for businesses to condemn and cut ties with West. That list includes Apple, Spotify and Adidas.“This is as low as it can get,” Gersh toldof West’s recent comments. “This is the most blatant form of hatred and antisemitism one could imagine. It doesn’t get any worse than this. People really need to hammer these companies in business with him to impress upon them how wrong it is to support somebody like this.
“This is a moment in history where the stakes are high and being open about our values, and living them, is essential. Silence and inaction are not an option,” Emanuel wrote. “This is why it is necessary for all of us to speak out. Hatred and anti-Semitism should have no place in our society, no matter how much money is at stake.”
On the importance of decision-makers to speak out, Gersh points to the dark legacy of the Blacklist era in 1940s and ’50s Hollywood. His father, the legendary tenpercenter Phil Gersh, represented screenwriters who were part of the Hollywood 10, notably Abraham Polonsky, Albert Maltz and Edward Dmytryk.
Famous Artists, the prosperous firm that Phil Gersh ran in the late 1950s, also aided in the early career of Harry Belafonte, who was quick to use his celebrity to support civil rights and social justice causes. Bob Gersh grew up seeing Belafonte perform and speak at Los Angeles-area events, alongside his brother and business partner, David Gersh.