MJF discusses Jewish representation in the professional wrestling world.
In an industry where there aren’t many representatives of Jewish heritage, AEW‘s Maxwell Jacob Friedman is proud to showcase himself and empower others with a similar background. Friedman recently noted the importance of spotlighting more than one archetype of the Jewish people — something he’s been able to do through his work in wrestling. Now, he’s spoken a little deeper on the subject.
In a new interview with Sean Ross Sapp of Fightful, Friedman was asked how it felt being a represented that many are inspired by. “Full transparency, it means the world to me,” MJF said. “Growing up, there was two types of Jews you would see in media, on TV or in movies. It was either really like fat, money-hungry, or really feeble, like, ‘Oh, please don’t hurt me.’ So, just for people to be able to have a Jew to watch on TV that represents them, that’s handsome and cool and charming and funny and witty and intelligent and very humble, I think is so important. So important.”
He may also be one of wrestling’s greatest heels right now, but MJF is a hit in his home of Long Island. Earlier this month, the AEW World Champion returned home for a special “MJF Day” celebration. Amidst the festivities, Friedman assembled a live band to perform “Pennies From Heaven” as he sang the lyrics of the song. When asked about the significance of the song, Friedman revealed its tie to his grandfather.
“Can you see this tattoo?” Friedman asked as he pointed to a tattoo of his Papa Stanley’s face. “That’s my grandfather. He passed away about three years ago. He was a bandleader, he actually practically invented bar mitzvah parties. So what used to happen was you would go to a bar mitzvah…There was no party atmosphere in in the aftermath of it. My grandfather was like, ‘This is f**ing lame. He was the leader of the Al Stan Orchestra. So, he started post-Haftarah parties and then that became a huge thing. He did weddings, bar mitzvahs. The Al Stan Orchestra was f***ing huge. If you’re in the Northeast, you know, what the Al Stan Orchestra is.
“He loved ‘Pennies from Heaven.’ He would just randomly start blurting out that song in public places, so that one was for him.”
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