Comedian Larry David blasted over Holocaust joke on ‘Saturday Night Live’

A joke by comedian Larry David about the Holocaust in his “Saturday Night Live” opening monologue has sparked an online backlash.

David, a co-creator of “Seinfeld” and star of HBO’s “Curb Your Enthusiasm,” hosted the NBC television show Saturday. At the end of his opening monologue, he told a joke about concentration camps.

“I’ve always been obsessed with women, and I’ve often wondered if I’d grown up in Poland when Hitler came to power and was sent to a concentration camp, would I be checking women out in the camp? I think I would,” David said. “However, there are no good opening lines in a concentration camp.”

Reaction online was swift – and largely negative.

David’s routine also included a joke about the Harvey Weinstein scandal.

“Not all but many of them are Jews,” David said about sexual assault scandals involving Weinstein and others in Hollywood. “I don’t like when Jews are in the headlines for notorious reasons. I want ‘Einstein discovers the theory of relativity,’ ‘Salk cures polio.’ What I don’t want? ‘Weinstein took it out.’ ”

“I consistently strive to be a good Jewish representative,” David said. “When people see me I want them to say ‘Oh, there goes a fine Jew for you!’ ”

Others, however, defended David, citing the comedian’s long history of edgy, confrontational humor.

The show, now in its 43rd season, featured Miley Cyrus as the musical performer and the return of Alec Baldwin as President Donald Trump.

This story was originally published November 5, 2017 at 7:07 AM with the headline "Comedian Larry David blasted over Holocaust joke on ‘Saturday Night Live’."