Danish actor Kim Bodnia has revealed that one of the reasons why he quit hit show The Bridge was because as a Jew he did not feel safe working in Sweden.
Bodnia played detective Martin Rohde in two seasons of the Scandi-crime show, but after first signing up for a third, he later dropped out.
The 50-year-old had previously cited issues with the script, but has now said his departure was also caused by of the rise of anti-Semitism in Sweden.
The Bridge is filmed on both sides of the Oresund – in Denmark and Sweden – and its first two seasons starred Bodnia as Rodhe, and Sofia Helin as the socially awkward Swedish detective Saga Noren.
Despite initially signing up to return as Rohde in season three, Bodnia later announced he was quitting the show in 2014.
Bodnia made the controversial comments during an interview for Israeli TV where he spoke about why he left The Bridge.
After initially explaining that the changes made to the script and lack of influence on it as an actor was the main reason, he is then asked about anti-Semitism in Scandinvia.
‘It [anti-Semitism] is growing, especially in Malmo where we shot the Bridge in Sweden,’ he told Channel 10.
‘It’s not very nice, and not very comfortable to be there as a Jewish person.
‘So of course this also had something to do with it [quitting The Bridge].
‘It’s easy for me to say no to work in Sweden. Its very easy, when they didn’t have the script right, I could say; “well, I don’t feel safe there”.’
Bodnia was born in Copenhagen to a Jewish family with Polish and Russian roots, and recently finished filming television show Hostages in Israel.
During the interview, he also indicated that there is a connection between the rise in anti-semitism in Sweden and Denmark and the influx of migrants and refugees in recent years.
‘[Among] the young people that’s living there now, who comes from outside into Denmark, this is growing too much.’
The Jewish star of a hit Swedish TV series has said he left the show due to the unbearable levels of anti-Semitism in the city of Malmo, where the show is set.
Kim Bodnia plays Danish police detective Martin Rohde the in popular crime drama The Bridge, had initially explained his decision to quit as the result of differences of opinions with directors.
But now the Jewish actor – who was a fan favorite before suddenly leaving the show – has said anti-Semitism played a significant role in his decision too.
“It’s growing, and especially in Malmo, where we shot The Bridge in Sweden, it’s not very nice and comfortable to be there as a Jewish person,” he told the Hebrew-language Walla! news site.
“When they didn’t have the script right I could say, ‘no, I don’t feel so safe there’. It’s not funny. It’s growing. We have to deal with it every day and we have to fight against it,” he added.
Malmo’s dwindling Jewish community has for years complained of rapidly escalating – sometimes violent – anti-Semitism, almost exclusively emanating from the city’s large Muslim immigrant population. Some 43% of Malmo residents are of non-Swedish descent, with most hailing from Muslim societies where anti-Semitism is prevalent, including very large Palestinian, Lebanese and Iraqi Arab communities.
Bodnia claimed he had tried, unsuccessfully, to convince scriptwriters to draw attention to the problem of anti-Semitism by writing it into an episode. His idea was to have his character encounter Muslim extremists during an undercover operation in a prison. The episode would have focused on the growing problem of Islamist radicalization inside Swedish jails – a problem which other European states are also facing.
“The situation is if people go to jail, they have this possibility to grow their hate of Jewish people,” he said. “It’s growing in the prison. So I suggested that when Martin is undercover in the prison, why didn’t we do something about that?”