NEW YORK — The HBO show “Girls” continues to stir controversy. Now some critics are blasting the show for its lack of diversity (the four principal players are white). Show creator Lena Dunham, who has already defended the show’s explicit language and scenes, said of the casting,  “I am a half Jew, half WASP, and I wrote two Jews and two WASPs. Something I wanted to avoid was tokenism in casting.” 

Roman Polanski to direct movie about Dreyfus Affair

Director Roman Polanski says his next film will be a political thriller about the Dreyfus Affair, in which a French-Jewish army officer was wrongfully convicted of treason in 1894. Polanski, a Holocaust survivor who escaped from the Krakow Ghetto, made the 2002 Holocaust movie “The Pianist.” He has lived in Europe since fleeing the U.S. in 1978 after pleading guilty to unlawful sexual intercourse with a minor.

‘Battleship’ director slams journalist for not serving in IDF

Peter Berg, director of the new movie “Battleship,” in an interview with “Erev Tov” (the Israeli equivalent of “Entertainment Tonight”), decided to dedicate much of the interview to the crisis between Israel and Iran. Then he abruptly asked the show’s interviewer, Jason Danino-Holt, whether he had served in the Israeli army. When the journalist answered no (Danino-Holt has said he was exempt for medical reasons), Berg replied, “What? How did you get out of 

that? Are you a draft dodger?” and added, “You better join the army,” punctuating the sentence with an expletive.

Gilad Shalit visits ‘Homeland’ shooting in Israel

The production crew of “Homeland” and stars Claire Danes and Mandy Patinkin welcomed a special visitor to the set on Tuesday — Gilad Shalit. The award-winning show is shooting its second season in Israel and caught the attention of the country’s media. Shalit, the Israeli soldier who was abducted by Hamas and held in captivity for more than five years, said he is a fan of the show and already had watched the entire first season.

Howard Stern on ‘Talent’ casting

Loud-mouthed radio host Howard Stern showed up at NBC’s “Today” show and told Matt Lauer that although he thinks it was a “crazy” idea to put him in a family show like “America’s Got Talent,” he will be the judge whom everybody loves. Stern ended the interview by sitting on Lauer’s lap and giving him a kiss on the cheek.

Amar’e Stoudemire vs. the fire extinguisher

Knicks star Amar’e Stoudemire took a second-game playoff loss to the Miami Heat pretty hard. Also taking the loss hard was a fire extinguisher in Miami’s American Airlines Arena — Stoudemire punched it.

While the New York baller was taken to the hospital with serious cuts to his hand, Twitter users had fun with the story. One of them, @ColossalEgo, playing off of Stoudemire’s well-known affinity for all things Jewish, quipped: “You would think that with Amare Stoudemire being Jewish he would know that you’re supposed to break glass in celebration.”

Stoudemire had to miss Game 3 of the series, another Knicks loss, but he came back from his injury in the next game to help the Knicks avoid the sweep in the best-of-seven series, breaking the team’s 11-year streak without a playoff win.

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