Farmington Hills Rabbi Produces 'Perrody' of Campaign Video

It's amazing what can happen in just five days – or even five minutes.

But five minutues is about all it took for Farmington Hills resident Rabbi Jason Miller to craft a response after he watched a controversial ad posted on YouTube Dec. 7 by the campaign of Republican presidential candidate Texas Gov. Rick Perry.

Now, the rabbi's video is among a collection of "Perrodies" that are burning up the Internet. 

The ad shows Perry walking outdoors. He starts by saying he's not ashamed to be a Christian, and that "there's something wrong in this country when gays can serve openly in the military, but our kids can't openly celebrate Christmas or pray in school." Perry vows to end "Obama's war on religion" and says he will fight "liberal attacks" on religion.

Miller said he's not usually a political person, "but when it comes to human dignity, I have no problem being an ally of the gay and lesbian community, because I don't think they should be discriminated against."

The comparison with gays serving openly in the military, he said, "is nonsensical and hurtful". Miller said the ad showed Perry is "insensitive and ignorant. There is no war on religion. There is no war on Christmas." 

"As soon as I saw it, I immediately thought it deserved a parody," Miller said. "At the time, I didn't see anybody else doing it, which surprised me."

Miller contacted a friend, video producer Adam Luger, the same day with his idea. At the time, Miller hadn't written the script – but he penned it at in Farmington Hills, just minutes before he left to shoot the video at the in West Bloomfield.

He starts with, "I'm not ashamed to say that I'm a Jew" and continues with the Perry ad structure, in his own words. Miller says "there's something wrong in our country when gays can serve openly in the military and yet they still can't get married legally in most U.S. States." He also points out that "Jewish kids in public school have to watch as their peers celebrate Christmas – a holiday they don't observe."

The project was posted on YouTube.com the day after Perry's ad went up, Miller said, because things travel pretty fast on the Internet – and "if you don't act right away, the window of opportunity is gone."

Since it posted, he estimates the video has been seen by more than 158,000 people, although Youtube.com's audited viewership at this point is around 62,000. Miller said Youtube.com holds view counts for verification, because he allows them to run ads on his videos, so the stats are a few days behind. 

He has gotten appreciative notes from as far away as Ghana and Australia. The online German magazine Spiegel, USA Today, Jewish Journal, Forward, Washington Post and other publications have picked up his video.

The Perry ad has generated more than 644,000 dislikes and about 20,000 likes; comments on the video are disabled.

Others have gotten on the parody bandwagon, making Miller's video part of an Internet "meme", an idea that makes its way all around the world wide web. Huffington Post published a collection that includes one called "Jesus Responds to Rick Perry's 'Strong' Ad". 

As of Monday afternoon, there were 639 comments on Miller's video, which has been given the "thumbs up" by 4,423 viewers. Only 93 have disliked it. Miller said he has gotten some ugly comments – including one that started "I hate Jews" – but he knows you have to take the bad with the good. 

"The overwhelming majority of the comments have been positive," he said, adding one thing has surprised him. "Not a lot of Rick Perry supporters have weighed in."

In a statement to ABC News, published Dec. 9, a Perry campaign representative said they ran the ad because it "accurately reflects Gov. Perry’s faith and opposition to the Obama administration’s attacks on faith-based organizations." Examples mentioned included "penalizing religious health care providers, attacking the right of churches and religious organizations to make certain hiring decisions and refusing to defend the Defense of Marriage Act in federal court."