Game of Thrones star Laura Pradelska has disabled comments on her Instagram account after receiving a barrage of anti-Semitic abuse, for which her “skin wasn’t thick enough,” Jewish News reported on Monday.
Pradelska told BBC Radio 5 Live that most of the abuse relates to the Nazi Holocaust and her Jewish roots. The German-Jewish actress, who played Quaithe in the HBO series, said: “It’s completely uncalled for because I tend to post pretty pictures, or pictures of rehearsal or of work that I do.”
The Game of Thrones star explained that she was “outspoken, and I do work with organisations. That doesn’t mean I necessarily have to have a political opinion, and I’m not really equipped to go into major discussions.” Pradelska added that, “It’s usually also from people that hide behind some sort of strange name.”
Board of Deputies Vice President Amanda Bowman said: “That Laura Pradelska has had to disable comments on her Instagram account because of a profusion of antisemitic comments is terribly upsetting for her and worrying for all Jews.
“We call on social media networks to work to identify and banish racists and their disgusting comments.”
Dave Rich, head of policy at the Community Security Trust, added: “Sadly time and time again we see prominent Jewish people subjected to antisemitic abuse on social media, just because they are Jewish.”
“It’s a disgrace that anybody has to put up with this and social media companies need to do more to support people who experience hate on their platforms.”
Pradelska is the grandchild of Holocaust survivors and has previously spoken about each of her four grandparents’ survival of the Nazi regime. On Monday, the actress paid tribute to paternal great-grandmother Klara Stern on Instagram by sharing a photo of a burning candle. Stern gave birth to her first child in a labor camp in Nowy Sacz, Poland.
Captioning the post, she wrote: “In loving memory of my Omi, Klara Pradelski (geb Stern) liberated from Auschwitz-Birkenau in 1945. #holocaustmemorial #NeverAgain.”
[Photo: Red Carpet News TV / YouTube ]