Something is happening in the world of entertainment, yet most of us are immune to it. We watch films, stream music, and hand our children stories filled with hook-nosed villains and scheming, money-obsessed antagonists without giving it a second thought. We share clips of musicians with millions of followers spewing ethnic or racial slurs and chalk it up to “controversy.” We consume content at an unprecedented pace, but we rarely stop to consider how it is consuming us.

A Stereotype Older Than Shakespeare

To understand how Jewish people are often wrongly portrayed in contemporary media, we need to understand where those depictions come from. The stereotypes embedded in today’s entertainment are not original inventions—they are ancient ones.

One of the most pervasive portrayals is the image of the greedy, money-obsessed Jewish villain. Medieval European Christians, barred from certain financial professions by religious prohibitions, often relegated Jewish people to roles in moneylending and then despised them for it.^[1] Over the centuries, the bitterness hardened into a cultural assumption that Jewish people were inherently manipulative, disloyal, and driven by greed. Literature then amplified the lie.

When Shylock demanded his infamous “pound of flesh” in The Merchant of Venice, Shakespeare was not creating a new trope but resurrecting an existing one. Charles Dickens’s Fagin in Oliver Twist, a crafty Jewish criminal who recruited homeless boys into a life of theft, further reinforced the stereotype. Then around 1825, the Oxford English Dictionary included the following verbs “to Jew” and “Jew down” as synonyms for cheating, overreaching, and haggling down someone in business. This Jewish stereotype had become so normalized that it entered the dictionary.^[2]

These literary roots matter because they fed what came next. One of the most dangerous documents in the history of antisemitism, The Protocols of the Elders of Zion, which was fabricated in Russia in 1903 and later weaponized by Nazi propaganda, drew on these same tropes. The Protocols constructed elaborate lies about Jewish global domination, and Adolf Hitler’s regime used the material to justify genocide.^[3]

What We Are Watching

Contemporary entertainment has not left the propaganda behind, though it has, in many cases, simply made it harder to see. Watch closely, and the same visual shorthand shows up again and again in children’s movies and books. Individually, the details may seem harmless or coincidental, but put together, the pattern is unmistakable: it is the recurring caricature that produced Shylock and Fagin. Even the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences has drawn criticism for declining to formally recognize Jewish people as an underrepresented group in film, a decision that signals how invisible this particular blind spot remains in the industry.^[4]

Music has been even more explicit. The myth of Jewish control over media and the music industry has appeared in lyrics by a number of high-profile recording artists. The Anti-Defamation League (ADL) has condemned lyrics from multiple artists over the years that accuse Jewish music executives of exploitation or invoke the “greedy Jew” trope. Even ADL’s chief executive noted that the lyrics “reinforce the antisemitic myth of Jewish control of the music industry, a stereotype that has been exploited in recent years by well-known hatemongers.”^[5] Musician Ye (formerly Kanye West) escalated from making off-color statements in 2022 to publicly praising Adolf Hitler; in the years since, he has posted images of Nazi symbology on his social media platforms with tens of millions of followers. Australia revoked his visa in 2025 over his antisemitic song, “Heil Hitler,” citing public safety concerns.^[6]

Neo-Nazi content has found its way onto social media platforms as well. According to AJC’s State of Antisemitism in America 2024 report, 82 percent of Jewish Americans under the age of 30 saw antisemitic content online.^[7] This content is often disguised through benign symbols or numbers in order to avoid detection by moderation systems. Emojis including a nose, octopus, rat, snake, and pig are prevalent online—even something so innocent as a juice box emoji has a darker, coded meaning.^[8]

How Attitudes Are Formed

This is not merely a cultural trend. It has measurable consequences for how people think about Jewish people. A 2024 ADL survey of more than 4,000 Americans found that nearly 24 percent of respondents agreed with six or more classic antisemitic tropes. These are not abstract data sets. They represent our neighbors, coworkers, and members of our congregations.^[9]

Globally, the picture is even more alarming. A 2024 ADL Global 100 survey, covering more than 58,000 adults across 103 countries, found that approximately 46 percent of the world’s adult population harbors antisemitic attitudes, more than double the level recorded a decade ago. Among respondents under age 35, the figure is higher, with 40 percent agreeing that Jewish people are responsible for most of the world’s wars.^[10]

Called to Discernment

The apostle Paul urges believers in Romans 12:2 not to be conformed to the patterns of this age but to be transformed by the renewal of the mind. This verse is not only about personal morality but also about the formation of perception. It is about being the kind of person who can recognize the lie, even when it is dressed up as entertainment.

Christians have a particular responsibility here. Antisemitism is a spiritual assault. Satan has sought throughout history to destroy Jewish people through whom the Messiah came into the world, and one of his most effective tactics has been to use literature, films, music, and now digital media, to spread contempt for Jewish people worldwide.

So, what does discernment look like practically?

It begins with awareness and consideration of the content we are consuming. Then it continues with conversation. People often hold antisemitic attitudes without realizing it because of cultural norms. But honest, loving dialogue can interrupt and reverse years of this conditioning. The Coalition Against Antisemitism offers free resources to help educate you and others on how to respond to antisemitism. For instance, check out our article, “Old Antisemitic Myths Revived Today.”

A proper biblical response to antisemitism also means speaking out against hatred. Christians in every sphere of life are called to be a light unto the nations—including Jewish people, who are beloved by God (Romans 11:28). As we strive to love those from whom our Messiah came, biblical wisdom and Spirit-filled discernment invite us to recognize the harm that stereotypes in music, literature, and even our social media posts perpetuate. Images matter. Lyrics matter. What we watch and listen to shapes our beliefs and tells a story about the Messiah we say we follow. After all, it is through the line of Judah that Jesus, the Messiah, entered the world. That alone is reason enough to pay attention to how His people are represented and refuse to perpetuate the ancient lie.