A conservative news network has fired one of the producers of disgraced former Rep. Matt Gaetz’s show for a vile animated video in which he characterized Jewish people as cockroaches, according to news reports.
One America News canned Vish Burra over a series of online posts deemed “highly offensive” and “antisemitic” by the network’s executives, The Wrap reported, citing a source familiar with the controversy.
Burra’s posts reportedly included an AI-generated video of himself opening the door of a “scheming room,” featuring a Star of David above the text. As the light is switched on, a group of cockroaches, which were previously counting money on a table inside, are seen to scurry away from the light.
Dehumanizing metaphors comparing Jews to cockroaches and other vermin have a long and sordid history, beginning in the medieval period and intensifying during the 19th and early 20th century before reaching the horrific low in Nazi Germany under the Third Reich.
In the clip, the AI version of Burra further delivers a bizarre diatribe directed toward Susan Lebovitz-Edelman, wife of billionaire Joseph Edelman, who Burra claims is attempting to oust Kevin Roberts as chief of pro-MAGA think tank the Heritage Foundation.
Burra, a scriptwriter and booker on The Matt Gaetz Show, previously worked as a staffer for disgraced former congressman George Santos.
Roberts has found himself under fire of late for defending far-right pundit and conspiracy theorist Tucker Carlson for hosting white nationalist and Holocaust-denier Nick Fuentes on his podcast late last month.
“I will expose the vermin in the venomous coalition and their transgressions against MAGA, America First, and Kevin Roberts at the Heritage Foundation,” Burra subsequently wrote on X.
With the backlash proving swift and fierce, Burra has since deleted his posts as Gaetz now attempts to dampen some of the outcry prompted by his use of vicious antisemitic tropes.
“My producer Vish Burra posted something dumb this week,” Gaetz wrote on X Saturday. “He knew it was dumb and quickly deleted it. I too have posted dumb things on social media without thinking—some I’ve deleted, some I haven’t. And I’ve had to pay some consequences along the way. Vish will too.”
“I’m not the internet hall monitor of any of my coworkers (thankfully),” he added.
The Daily Beast has reached out to Vish Burra, One America News, and Matt Gaetz for comment on this story.
