Couple Booted Off Luxury Liner After Anti-Semitic Confrontation

Break out the monocles and tiny violins: a wealthy Manhattan octogenarian and her nonagenarian husband claim they were booted off the Queen Mary 2 luxury liner because of an argument with a fellow passenger that descended into an anti-semitic rant. Broadway producer Gloria Sher, 82, says that she and her husband's lives are ruined forevermore. No really, look: "I've been sick ever since. It has ruined our lives. It's changed us forever."

Sher and her husband, Frederick Evans, 91, met aboard the Queen Elizabeth 2 in 1991, so the two have an understandable sentimental attachment to living the high life while seasick on floating deathtraps for weeks on end. According to Sher, mere days into the couple's $20,000, five-week cruise, they got entangled with an argument at a black-tie dinner with a passenger who told Sher to shut up, and then added, "There are too many Jews on board." An enraged Sher, who is Jewish, profanely laced into the man. The next morning the ship's captain, who the couple knew from other cruises, informed them that they had insulted a fellow passenger, implying that Sher had pushed the passenger, and would have to deboard the ship: "He told two seniors we had to get off in Quebec and make our way home. We begged him not to do this," said Sher, who produced the Tony-nominated musical Shenandoah. The couple were able to convince the captain to let them stay aboard till they got back to NY, and spent the six days interim as shut-ins.

But wait! Just as in the game Clue, there is more than one side to every story: another passenger told the Post that Sher tends to get belligerent when drinking, and that she went on a rant one night because a lounge's piano was closed. Was this anonymous source actually the butler in disguise? Let's ask a passenger who agreed to talk on the record: "This is deplorable. I felt that they were absolutely treated without appropriate dignity," said Fred Bangasser, a retired Army colonel who had befriended the couple during the cruise. But the cruise line said in a statement that, "Sir Evans and Lady Sher engaged in multiple incidences of disrespectful and disruptive behavior towards crew members and other guests." Yes, as we continue to pry open this onion, the layers just stink more and more.

Although it's ruined their lives irrevocably, Sher and Evans should concentrate on the bright spots, the things that make them happy; for example, Sher likes to tell people that her hubby is the illegitimate son of the Duke of Windsor, the abdicated King Edward VIII, as well as a British knight. Although neither claim could be confirmed, that sounds like something that could very well maybe be true perhaps. They should just be happy that the tension aboard the ship wasn't resolved in a knife fight.

Contact the author of this article or email tips@gothamist.com with further questions, comments or tips.

By Ben Yakas in News on October 3, 2010 1:00 PM

Comments [rss]

chuzzlewit

"said Fred Bangasser, a retired Army colonel"....Bangasser? that is awesome.

John L

This is terrible.

If an 80 and 90 year old couple can't go on a $20,000 cruise and go a little crazy then what do we all have to look forward to?

How loud can they possibly scream?

How much of a nuisance can they possibly be?

And to say there's too many Jews on board is not nice.

Mr. Know-It-All

If an 80 and 90 year old couple can't go on a $20,000 cruise and go a little crazy then what do we all have to look forward to?

My thoughts exactly. If I'm getting thrown out of places every time I piss someone off at that age, I've got a tough retirement ahead of me.

Jesse

Guess the person that said that doesn't know that Cunard is owned by Carnival cruise-lines and that it is owned and operated by a Jewish guy.

What would have been awesome, is if Gloria threw the person overboard.

Morris

In a Cosmopolitan culture sophistication is everything, and all else is meaningless. Fredrick and Gloria never thought of themselves as Jews, they felt that they were citizens of the world where ones ethnicity is invisible. Gloria could not believe what she was hearing when the bigot called her a Jew. Those words tore off her mask and exposed her to a bitter reality that she could never escape from again.

Mr. Know-It-All

GLORIA. (sobbing) It has ruined our lives. It's changed us forever.

(Enter LAWYERS stage left bearing briefs.)

Spirit of 76

a wealthy Manhattan octogenarian and her nanogenarian husband

His age is measured in billionths of a decade? Perhaps you meant nonagenarian.

longacre

No, actually he was listening to his iPod Nano in the dining room, that's what started the fight.

Morris

When Jews start liking the ambiance of a luxury liner the Christians slowly leave, when the ship become filled with Jews it loses it ambience and no other Jews want to make reservations. It is then that the ships owners go into bankruptcy.

Jesse

Your comment doesn't make any sense.

twentyfive25

Kvetch-Jew... any questions?

Morris

They should have been sitting in the kosher dining room abroad the ship, but they possibly thought their own kind was too loud and boisterous. This incident has changed their whole outlook on life, because on their next cruise they will be eating latkes and gefilta fish.

CR

But what about mixed marriages like Sher and Evans here - should they be made to sit in separate dining rooms? How about drink from separate water-fountains? What about if Sher rode in Steerage, and Evans gadded about in the State Ballrooms in the evenings and sunned himself on the deck during the day while speaking with the other gentleman about the news of the day? No, no, no, - I got it: Evans gets to ride up front of the cruise liner while Sher should be force to ride in the back - Now that's a solution everybody can agree on!

DanielJ

Yes, because Jews just sit around being loud and eating latkes and gefilte fish all day. The trolls come out in full force every time an article here mentions Jews.

dept54321

To be fair, the trolls come out for just about everything. You've got your anti-immigrant trolls, your anti-hipster trolls, your anti-government trolls, your anti-development trolls and your anti-transplant trolls, not to mention the usual slate of cranks, crazies and bigots, who are kind of like frogs, in that they pretty much just sit around waiting for a chance to piss on you.

wingedearth

Don't forget the Treasure Trolls. Those are the most disturbing trolls.

thefacts

True, but it also happens with the Catholics and the Muslims.

CR

Rick Sanchez ought to love this story because it goes with his theory that Jews are claiming they're an oppressed minority in this land... or at sea... or somewhere.