EXCLUSIVE: Mel Brooks Sparks Outrage With His New Hitler Gag — 'He Has No Idea What Wokery Is!'
Mel Brooks left critics raging over a Hitler joke.
Oct. 10 2025, Published 6:45 p.m. ET
Mel Brooks has once again found himself at the center of controversy – this time for a new gag about Adolf Hitler that's been branded "offensive and out of touch" by critics, though the 99-year-old comedy legend insists he’s simply doing what he's always done: making people laugh by saying the unsayable.
RadarOnline.com can reveal the backlash erupted after Brooks, speaking to an audience in Los Angeles during a promotional event for the revival of The Producers, quipped, "Hitler was bad to every Jew in the world, but he was good to me."
Brooks Doesn't Understand The Backlash
Brooks has found himself in the center of controversy again.
The line, intended as a callback to his long-standing defense of lampooning dictators, drew immediate condemnation on social media, where users accused him of "mocking history" and "ignoring modern sensitivities."
A source close to the comedian has now claimed: "Mel honestly doesn't see what all the fuss is about. He's been making jokes about Hitler for nearly 60 years and never once meant them in support of the man. To him, comedy is about taking power away from evil, not giving it back. He just doesn't get the idea of 'wokery' – it's like another language to him."
Brooks, whose iconic 1967 film The Producers famously featured the song Springtime for Hitler, has long defended his decision to satirize Nazism.
When the film first premiered, he faced protests from rabbis and Jewish organizations before eventually winning them over with his argument that ridicule was the most powerful form of resistance.
Comedy With No Rules?
Brooks made a joke about Adolf Hitler, which led to backlash.
"You can't fight fascism with speeches," he once said. "You fight it with laughter." But times have changed, and some in the industry believe Brooks' brand of boundary-pushing humor no longer sits comfortably in today's climate.
A Hollywood insider claimed: "Mel still believes comedy should have no rules. He thinks audiences are too thin-skinned now, and he refuses to censor himself. That used to be refreshing – now it's controversial."
The uproar comes as Brooks celebrated the return of The Producers to London's West End and develops Spaceballs 2, a sequel to his 1987 Star Wars parody. Speaking recently from his home in Santa Monica, he said he was "busier than ever" and working deep into the night.
The 99-year-old is still working, as he's currently making a sequel to 'Spaceballs.'
He said: "I like writing late because nobody calls, nobody bothers me. I'm all alone with my characters and I'm happy."
Friends say the latest outrage has done little to dampen his spirit.
"He's laughing about it," said a longtime collaborator. "Mel's been called every name under the sun – offensive, outrageous, even dangerous, but he thrives on that energy. If people are talking, it means he's still relevant."
Not everyone agrees. Some critics have accused Brooks of being "stuck in the past," with one commentator writing online he has "no idea what wokery even means, and maybe that's the problem."
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Some fans have defended the director's brass humor.
Others have defended him, arguing that his work has always been grounded in defiance rather than cruelty. Brooks himself remains unrepentant.
"People understood I wasn't supporting Hitler," he said years ago when questioned about The Producers. "If you make fun of tyrants, you win."
Now, insiders say he's privately joked he's being "canceled by people who don't get the joke." The comedian, who still writes daily despite his advancing age, says his goal has never changed.
"Comedy tells us more about who we are than tragedy ever could," he said. "If it makes you laugh and think, it's done its job."
A close friend summed up Brooks' stance, saying: "He's old-school – he doesn't filter himself and never will. Mel thinks the real danger isn't an off-color joke, it's when people stop laughing altogether."
