Jago Times "English Edition" Best Online Newspaper
Related Articles
Legendary British writer Roald Dahl was one of the most esteemed names in the world of literature but some of his objectionable views had been highly criticized.
After the Matilda writer’s “prejudiced” anti-Semitic remarks, which he said during his lifetime, his family has now quietly issued an apology on his behalf.
The Charlie and the Chocolate Factory author had made a series of highly offensive statements during an interview with The New Statesman in 1983, per The Sunday Times of London.
“There is a trait in the Jewish character that does provoke animosity, maybe it’s a kind of lack of generosity towards non-Jews. I mean, there’s always a reason why anti-anything crops up anywhere,” he said.
“Even a stinker like Hitler didn’t just pick on them for no reason,” he added.
In a later interview in 1990, Dahl told The Independent: “I’m certainly anti-Israeli and I’ve become anti-Semitic in as much as that you get a Jewish person in another country like England strongly supporting Zionism.”
Decades after his death in 1990, his family has now issued an apology on his website.
“The Dahl family and the Roald Dahl Story Company deeply apologise [sic] for the lasting and understandable hurt caused by some of Roald Dahl’s statements. Those prejudiced remarks are incomprehensible to us and stand in marked contrast to the man we knew…,” it read.
“We hope that, just as he did at his best, at his absolute worst, Roald Dahl can help remind us of the lasting impact of words,” it added.
The family also apologized for him hurting the sentiments of many people as they gave a statement to the Sunday Times, saying: “Apologising [sic] for the words of a much-loved grandparent is a challenging thing to do, but made more difficult when the words are so hurtful to an entire community.”
“We loved Roald, but we passionately disagree with his anti-Semitic comments….These comments do not reflect what we see in his work – a desire for the acceptance of everyone equally – and were entirely unacceptable. We are truly sorry,” they added.