Listen HERE
Gerard Menuhin descends from an illustrious line of rabbis. Both his father (the famous violinist Yehudi Menuhin) and grandfather (Moshe Menuhin) were peace activists and anti-Zionists. Gerard has taken their activism several steps further. His 2016 book Tell the Truth and Shame the Devil (read it free here, buy it here) is eloquent, incendiary, and infused with the kind of prophetic rage that gatekeepers, censors, and inquisitors falsely label “hate.” It has been banned from various nations and platforms, and was even the object of a police raid on his house.
His two new books, the darkly humorous play Lies and Gravy: Landmarks in Human Decay and the almost equally mordant autobiography Lived It Wrong, are both great reads. In this interview we discuss Lies and Gravy. It’s the sort of thing Beckett or Ionesco might have written had they blamed Jewish power for humanity’s current predicament.
Will Menuhin’s play ever see the light of the stage? It might…if the local Pepe the Frog Drama Club at some American university decides to seize the day and organize what could become a major succès de scandale. So listen up, young Pepes: If you want to shock the bejezus out of your insipid elders, and garner millions in free publicity courtesy of your local ADL chapter, by all means organize a theatrical production of Lies and Gravy.
Other topics in this interview include coronavirus, the politics of fear, and immigration. (Gerard Menuhin and I sharply disagree on the latter issue, as the listener will discover.)
Gerard Menuhin has been reviled and censored for his political views and interpretations of history. Those who respond with insults and attempts to muzzle him are inadvertently suggesting that he’s probably on to something.