Bradley Cooper’s ‘Maestro’ Prosthetic Nose Defended by Anti-Defamation League as Not Antisemitic

The Anti-Defamation League has chimed in on the controversy surrounding Bradley Cooper in Maestro.

After the Academy Award nominee was scrutinized for donning a prosthetic nose for his portrayal of Jewish composer Leonard Bernstein, the civil rights organization shared a statement with The Messenger in his defense.

"Throughout history, Jews were often portrayed in antisemitic films and propaganda as evil caricatures with large, hooked noses," the statement reads. "This film, which is a biopic on the legendary conductor Leonard Bernstein, is not that."

The first trailer for Maestro debuted last week, sparking backlash over the prosthetic, as well as the casting of a non-Jewish actor to play Bernstein.

Bernstein's three children have since come to Cooper's defense, explaining that the actor included them in "every step of his amazing journey as he made his film about our father."

"It breaks our hearts to see any misrepresentations or misunderstandings of his efforts," they added. "It happens to be true that Leonard Bernstein had a nice, big nose. Bradley chose to use makeup to amplify his resemblance, and we're perfectly fine with that. We're also certain that our dad would have been fine with it as well."

Maestro premieres in select theaters on November 22 before streaming December 20 on Netflix.