CORBYN RABBI FUMES AT I’M A CELEBRITY SNUB
‘I was just too controversial for play-it-safe ITV’
A YOUTUBE star rabbi says he was cruelly SNUBBED by the producers of this year’s I’m A Celebrity after he was “as good as promised” a spot in the show.
Rabbi Ephraim Cohen says he was “made to understand” that he’d be joining Mo Farah, Vernon Kay and Victoria Derbyshire on the show, which this year is being filmed in north Wales rather than Australia because of the COVID restrictions.
The respected holy man – who broadcasts homespun wisdom and moral guidance to more than 500 followers on his YouTube channel – says he was “stunned” when his name did not appear on a leaked lineup last week.
The rabbi – who bears a striking resemblance to former Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn – said: “I had many messages on my YouTube channel, which I took to be from ITV producers, asking if I would be available for I’m A Celebrity.
Holidays
“Naturally, I jumped at the chance. I’m a huge fan of Ant and Dec and as a child spent many happy holidays in Llandudno.
“When the names of the line- up emerged on Friday and my name was not on the list I called up ITV and asked what on earth was going on.
“But they denied ever inviting me to take part in the show and said I must be the victim of some elaborate hoax.”
But Rabbi Cohen, whose identical twin brother Eli – also a rabbi – was eaten by cats last year after dying at his north London home, says he’s not so sure about that.
He thinks that the controversy surrounding his secular lookalike may have scuppered his chances.
Rabbi Cohen, of Golders Green, explained: “I think it is no coincidence that I was dropped on the same day that Jeremy Corbyn was suspended by the Labour Party after the human rights commission report on anti- Semitism in the party.
“Clearly, because of who I look like, the producers decided to axe me.
Maybe they thought that having a rabbi who looks like Jeremy Corbyn on prime time telly might look like taking the piss.
“They just want to play it safe, I suppose, after all that business with Ant in the past.”
Mr Corbyn was suspended by Labour because of his continued insistence that the allegations of anti- Semitism were “dramatically overstated for political reasons”.
Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer said the publication of the report was “a day of shame” for the party and offered an apology to the Jewish community.
And he told a press conference that anyone dismissing the problem of antisemitism as exaggerated was “part of the problem… and should be nowhere near the Labour Party”.