President Donald Trump said Friday he was unaware that the term “Shylock” is considered antisemitic, following criticism over remarks made during a Thursday rally in Iowa.
Referencing banks and taxes, Trump told the crowd: “No going to the banks and borrowing from, in some cases, a fine banker. And in some cases, Shylocks and bad people.”
The Anti-Defamation League condemned the comment, calling it “extremely offensive and dangerous,” citing its roots in antisemitic portrayals of Jewish moneylenders from Shakespeare’s The Merchant of Venice.
Trump responded Friday: “I’ve never heard it that way. To me, Shylock is somebody that’s a money lender at high rates. You view it differently than me. I’ve never heard that.”
The term has sparked political controversy in the past. In 2014, then-Vice President Joe Biden apologized for using “Shylocks” in a speech, calling it a “poor choice of words.”
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