Richard Belzer Gives Nazi Salute

Richard Belzer, the Jewish stand-up comedian who played John Munch on “Homicide: Life on the Street” and “Law and Order: Special Victims Unit,” decided to use a Nazi salute on the red carpet in Monte Carlo as well as imitate Hitler’s moustache.

It’s not the first time Belzer has used the Nazi salute; in a 2009 appearance on Sean Hannity’s Fox News program, he tried to interrupt a conversation by throwing his arm up in Sieg Heil fashion.

Belzer protested he was just imitating Charlie Chaplin in “The Great Dictator” and that it was just a joke, saying, “My grandfather represented Israel in the UN before it was made a nation. I’m a Jewish comedian, and there’s this new thing out, it’s called satire, irony and historical reference. To say that a Jew can’t do that gesture as homage to Chaplin’s masterpiece, ‘The Great Dictator’ is like Muslim extremists killing a cartoonist for disparaging Mohammed in his art.”

So, to accuse Belzer of gross insensitivity for giving a Nazi salute is exactly the same as Islamists killing someone for a cartoon reference?

But what kind of real logic could we expect from the man who insisted Hulk Hogan demonstrate one of his moves on him against Hogan’s wishes, and when left unconscious by Hogan’s guillotine choke, subsequently sued him; the man who stuck his bare buttocks through a cutout on a TV show, and when the camera zoomed in on him, mouthed, “I did it for the money.”

Belzer has admitted dealing drugs in the ’60s, and said he came very close to being arrested numerous times. In 1981, with President Ronald Reagan’s daughter in the audience, he said of Reaganomics, “Instead of getting pregnant, have oral sex. Food stamps? Lick this, babe.”

In 1985, after a bout with testicular cancer, Belzer said, “Cancer is a cosmic slap in the face. You either get discouraged or ennobled by it.” Apparently Belzer got discouraged. He certainly wasn’t ennobled. In March of 2010, an employee at a Manhattan Apple store told cops he attacked her. The young woman said Belzer entered the upper West Side store grabbed her by the shoulders, shook her, choked her and barked, “I need help!”

Belzer doesn’t need help. He needs a lesson in respect for those who suffered more than he ever will.