Last fall, a sizzle reel for a Canadian show called “Lake Shore” went viral thanks to the provocative musings of its stars, a diverse group in which each was labeled by his or her ethnicity (“The Jew,” “The Pole,” etc.). In case you missed it, the highlight was when Sibel Altug (“The Turk”) said, “I hate everybody equally. Especially the Jewish people.”
This month, producers at quietly killed the program after networks refused to pick it up, thrusting the would-be stars back into the boring grind of real life.
“What do I say to people now?” asks Salem Moussallam — billed on Lake Shore as “The Lebanese” — who runs a designer consignment shop on Queen St. W. and says he auditioned to generate publicity for his business. “It’s been really embarrassing.” [Moussallam in the reel: “You can be gay as long as you don’t get anywhere near me.” –Ed.]
Others shrug it off. “I partied so much thinking that this was going to happen,” says Joey Violin (“The Italian”). “It’s probably better for me that it’s not happening — better for my health,” he says, adding he also spent too much money thinking that clubbing would generate publicity for the show.
Robyn Perza (“The Jew”) [said,] “The Jewish comment that was said — I think it might have had a lot to do with it,” she says. Networks “didn’t want to put an anti-semitic racial thing on TV,” she believes. Perza took time off from school during the year the show was in development. “It kind of screwed me over,” she says. [The Star]
Awww, poor Robyn Perza. “My thirst for instant fame by starring in a reality show built on ethnic stereotypes screwed me over.” Just a pawn in the game of heartless TV executives.
