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“Pod Save America” co-hosts Jon Favreau and Jon Lovett mocked Vice President JD Vance during a Wednesday episode for his use of the term “blood libel,” only to offer incorrect explanations of the centuries-old antisemitic accusation. They eventually arrived on its historical definition, but drew criticism from Commentary senior editor Seth Mandel.
The hosts laughed while discussing Vance’s usage and suggested he was interpreting the phrase literally through “bloodline” and being “liable,” before Lovett offered his own definition.
“The blood libel is that we killed Jesus. That’s it. We killed Jesus,” he said.
Pod Save America hosts Jon Favreau and Jon Lovett mocked Vice President JD Vance over his use of “blood libel” before offering conflicting definitions of the antisemitic trope. (Photo by Jerod Harris/Getty Images for Vox Media)
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Favreau immediately rejected that explanation but then connected the term to the biblical Passover story in which Israelites marked their doors with lamb’s blood so the plague killing Egypt’s firstborn would pass over their homes.
“No, the blood libel is that Jews supposedly, um, uh, put blood on… this is an Old Testament story… on a house so that when like the angel of death came by, they would skip over the houses with the blood on it but kill the firstborn,” he said.
After recognizing that the story was Passover, the hosts eventually read the historical definition of blood libel aloud.
Commentary senior editor Seth Mandel blasted the Pod Save America exchange, accusing the hosts of dismissing antisemitism while misunderstanding the history of blood libel. (Urs Flueeler, Pool Photo via AP)
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Vance explained his understanding of the term while discussing antisemitism before the Republican Jewish Coalition.
“The idea that because of your genetics, because of your blood, because of your ancestry, you are guilty of a crime that you never committed,” Vance said. Jewish Insider reported that Vance used “blood libel” and “blood guilt” interchangeably during the appearance.
Mandel said the hosts’ confusion over the meaning of blood libel reflected a broader problem in how accusations of antisemitism are sometimes dismissed, warning that treating Jewish concerns as exaggerated or unserious can both minimize the history behind such tropes and make it easier for antisemitic rhetoric to persist.
“Anti-Semites know how to graft Medieval blood libels onto baseless accusations against Israel and the Jewish community today. The Jewish victims of these blood libels also, of course, know their history quite well. The Pod Save America hosts represent a third group: the self-righteous ignoramuses who automatically dismiss accusations of anti-Semitism against their political allies,” Mandel said in a statement to Fox News Digital on Friday.
Favreau and Lovett laughed at Vance’s explanation before confusing blood libel with Jesus’ death and the Passover story, eventually arriving at its historical definition. (Jeff Schear/Getty)
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“If you start from a position of, essentially, ‘the Jews are silly and oversensitive,’ you will set yourself up to look like a fool, as the Pod bros did. You will also only encourage anti-Semitism to continue, as the Pod bros do,” he continued.
The U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum defines blood libel as the false allegation that Jews used the blood of non-Jews, typically Christian children, for religious rituals. The museum separately identifies the accusation that Jews were collectively responsible for killing Jesus as another historical form of antisemitism.
The Anti-Defamation League (ADL) similarly describes blood libel as the centuries-old falsehood that Jews murdered Christians, particularly children, to use their blood for religious purposes, including the purported baking of Passover matzah. Such accusations historically helped fuel mob violence and pogroms against Jewish communities.
The ADL reported 9,354 incidents of antisemitic assault, harassment and vandalism in the United States in 2024, the highest annual total since the organization began tracking incidents in 1979. The group said 58% of the incidents included elements related to Israel or Zionism, marking the first time such incidents accounted for a majority of its annual tally.
Fox News Digital reached out to Vance for comment, but did not immediately receive a response.
