Arnold Schwarzenegger has confronted the rise of antisemitism in the US in a new YouTube video.
The Austrian-born actor, who began as a bodybuilder and served as governor of California between 2003 and 2011, told viewers “there has never been a successful movement based on hate”.
Schwarzenegger’s rhetoric was couched in terms of a motivational pep-talk for those with prejudice: “Nazis? Losers. The Confederacy? Losers. The apartheid movement? Losers. I don’t want you to be a loser. I don’t want you to be weak … despite all my friends who might say, ‘Arnold, don’t talk to those people. It’s not worth it.’
“I don’t care what they say. I care about you. I think you’re worth it. I know nobody is perfect … I can understand how people can fall into a trap of prejudice and hate.”
Data released by the US Anti-Defamation League, suggest a rise in recent antisemitic abuse and violence. Last year saw the highest figures since tracking began in 1979, with 2,717 reported incidents in the US.
Schwarzenegger continued: “It’s easier to make excuses that the Jewish people conspired to hold you back than it is to admit that you just needed to work harder.
“It’s easier to hate than it is to learn … Nobody who has chosen the easy path of hate has gotten to the end of the road and said, ‘What a life.’ No. They die as miserably as they lived.
“No matter how far you’ve gone, I want you to know you still have a chance to choose a life of strength. You have to fight the war against yourself … The [hate] path is easier – you don’t have to change anything, everything in your life that you aren’t happy about can be somebody else’s fault … [But] you will end up broken. I don’t want you to go through all that.”
Schwarzenegger is a highly-active YouTuber, who has used his channel to campaign, promote and attempt to set an example. Footage of the star with his adopted donkey brightened the early days of the Covid pandemic; a video made last year in which he spoke about the Russian invasion of Ukraine in relation to his own father, who was a Nazi, has been viewed more than a million times.
“[My father] was injured at Leningrad and the Nazi army he was part of did vicious harm to the great city and to its brave people,” he said.
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“To the Russian soldiers listening to this broadcast, you already know much of the truth that I’m speaking. You’ve seen it in your own eyes. I don’t want you to be broken like my father.”
Last week, Steven Spielberg expressed his concern about the rise in domestic and global antisemitism while speaking on the Late Show with Stephen Colbert.
“Not since Germany in the 30s have I witnessed antisemitism no longer lurking, but standing proud with hands on hips like Hitler and Mussolini, kind of daring us to defy it,” he said. “I’ve never experienced this in my entire life, especially in this country.”