Clegg on Hollywood

On three separate occasions, without even interviewing me, The Times has stated or implied that I am a racist and an anti-Semite. This is yellow journalism at its worst.

After my presentation at the NAACP convention in 1990, The Times accused me of presenting “anti-Semitic calumnies and conspiratorial innuendoes” (“Who Needs This Kind of Thing?” July 13, 1990).

Your article (“Critics Decry Conference as a ‘Hate Fest,’ “Jan. 31) asserted that I have contended that “Jewish racism” and “Jewish control” of Hollywood “have resulted in the exclusion of blacks from the motion picture industry.” Again, in a Feb. 2 article (“Protesters, Few Others at Forum”), you wrote that I have “been sharply critical of what (I call) Jewish domination of Hollywood.”

My views on the relationship between blacks and Jews in Hollywood have been clear and consistent over the past decade.

In light of the fact that there is widespread sentiment among African-Americans that Jewish producers have been overwhelmingly responsible for creating black stereotypes on television (e.g., “Give Me a Break,” “Amen,” “Good Times,” “The Jeffersons,” “Sanford and Son”), I have appealed to black and Jewish leaders to hold a dialogue on this issue.

My request was made in the same spirit that Jewish leaders have called for numerous conferences regarding their grievances against blacks. An appeal for a dialogue is neither racist nor anti-Semitic. However, in the present case it exposes an egregious double standard that obviously compromises the integrity of The Times, but certainly will not silence me.

LEGRAND H. CLEGG II

Compton