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Elon Gold, Lizzy Savetsky Jokes at Tribeca Condemned by Festival

The Tribeca Festival has denounced comedian Elon Gold and influencer Lizzy Savetsky for jokes made on the red carpet, which critics say mocked allegations of sexual abuse against Palestinians in Israeli prisons. The remarks, referencing a New York Times column, have sparked controversy and a rebuke from festival organizers.

By Tertius News AI Desk 1 outlet · 1 article Version 1 Coverage Jun 9, 2026 Published Aug 13

Lead

The Tribeca Festival has issued a formal rebuke against comedian Elon Gold and social media personality Lizzy Savetsky after the pair made jokes referencing allegations of sexual abuse against Palestinians in Israeli military detention. The remarks, made during the red-carpet premiere of Gold's new film, drew immediate backlash and a statement of condemnation from festival organizers.

Coverage Comparison

Reporting on the incident reveals a divergence in framing and detail between outlets. Al Jazeera described the pair's comments as "outrageous" and focused on the mocking of Palestinians subject to "rape and bestiality in Israeli prisons." The outlet's coverage, published on June 7, emphasized the critical reaction to the jokes, with a tone that was directly critical of Gold and Savetsky.

In contrast, The Jerusalem Post reported on the festival's response, noting that Tribeca officials "unequivocally condemns the offensive and unacceptable remarks" and that "sexual violence and human suffering should never be mocked or minimized." The Jerusalem Post's reporting, published on June 9, also provided additional context about the exchange, including that the pair were alluding to a New York Times column by Nicholas Kristof.

Key Claims

Several claims have been aggregated from the coverage. It has been reported by multiple sources, including Al Jazeera and The Jerusalem Post, that Elon Gold, a US actor and comedian, and Lizzy Savetsky, a US influencer, were present at the Tribeca Film Festival, where they made comments about the alleged treatment of Palestinians in Israeli prisons.

The specific nature of the comments was detailed in these reports: the jokes referenced allegations of sexual violence against Palestinian prisoners. This was one of several allegations made in a column written by New York Times journalist Nicholas Kristof, which reportedly detailed instances of abuse by Israeli prison guards, including the use of dogs.

Further, both outlets confirm that the Tribeca Festival issued a statement denouncing the pair's remarks. The statement, as reported, said the comments do not reflect the festival's values and expressed regret for the offense caused. Single-source reports detail that the jokes were made on the red carpet at the world premiere of Gold's film, 'The Wedding Entertainer (The Tale of Moishe Badhan),' on Thursday, and that they were later included in an Instagram post by Savetsky.

According to a single source at the time of writing, the comments were part of a back-and-forth between Gold and Savetsky, where Gold described a personal experience in Israel, and Savetsky responded with a question that appeared to reference the allegations against Palestinian prisoners. The same source reports that Savetsky later compared the allegations in Kristof's column to an antisemitic blood libel and stated she had no regrets, though this claim has not been independently verified by other outlets.

Perspectives

Institutional Response: The Tribeca Film Festival has called the remarks "offensive and unacceptable," asserting that they do not align with the festival's values. This suggests the institution sought to distance itself from the content of the jokes while reaffirming its stance against using sensitive issues as comedic material.

Critical Viewpoint: Coverage from Al Jazeera highlights a perspective that the comments were harmful, using language that emphasizes the seriousness of the allegations being mocked. This angle suggests a concern for the dehumanization of Palestinian prisoners and a demand for accountability for those who mock such claims.

Pro-Israel Stance: The Jerusalem Post's report includes details that frame the jokes as a response to claims that Israel has officially rejected, implying a dismissive stance towards the allegations' validity. This perspective appears to question the credibility of the source material, potentially shaping a narrative where the backlash is seen as disproportionate to the intent of the jokes.

How this outlet told it

Jerusalem Post as of Jun 9, 2026, 3:30 AM UTC

Framing: Tribeca Festival denounces jokes alluding to allegations of rape against Israeli prison guards — Neutral/Objective

Facts Included:

The Tribeca Festival denounced the jokes made by Elon Gold and Lizzy Savetsky
The jokes were made on the red carpet at the world premiere of Gold's new film
The jokes referenced allegations of rape against Israeli prison guards made in a Nicholas Kristof NYT article
The festival stated that sexual violence and human suffering should never be mocked or minimized

Read the source article →

What was claimed, and who backed it

AI-extracted; can misattribute a claim — see Methodology.

Each row is one claim, attributed to the outlet whose wording states it most clearly. Confidence rates how directly the source text states the claim — explicit and unhedged rates high; hedged, pieced-together, or internally inconsistent statements rate lower. It does not measure whether the claim is true. Status counts the distinct outlets we found asserting it — so a single-source claim can still show high confidence, and a multi-source claim can show medium. Every one of those outlets is named beside the status, so you can check the count against the list. For claims extracted before we began storing that list, the row says so: it names the outlet the claim is quoted from and states that we have not recorded which outlets backed it. Outlets wrote at different times, so a figure that evolves — a casualty count, for example — can legitimately differ between rows; check the "as of" time next to each claim's source.

Claim	Confidence	Status
ClaimThe jokes were made on the red carpet at the world premiere of Elon Gold's new film, The Wedding Entertainer (The Tale of Moishe Badhan).	ConfidenceHigh	StatusSingle-source via Jerusalem Post as of Jun 9, 2026, 3:30 AM UTC
ClaimThe Tribeca Festival denounced the jokes made by Elon Gold and Lizzy Savetsky, stating that sexual violence and human suffering should never be mocked or minimized.	ConfidenceHigh	StatusMulti-source quoted from Jerusalem Post as of Jun 9, 2026, 3:30 AM UTC the outlets behind this status were not recorded for this claim
ClaimThe jokes referenced allegations of rape against Israeli prison guards made in a Nicholas Kristof NYT article.	ConfidenceHigh	StatusSingle-source via Jerusalem Post as of Jun 9, 2026, 3:30 AM UTC
ClaimLizzy Savetsky compared the allegations made in Kristof's column to an antisemitic blood libel and stated that she has no regrets for making the joke.	ConfidenceHigh	StatusSingle-source via Jerusalem Post as of Jun 9, 2026, 3:30 AM UTC

Transparency & Audit Trail

2 outlets · 2 articles consulted: Al Jazeera, Jerusalem Post 5 claims extracted Version 1 Written 2026-08-13