Last year, Helen Mirren played a Mossad agent in "The Debt". So questions whether Mirren herself is Jewish herself couldn't help but be unearthed.

And who better to ask these questions than the esteemed New York Times!

According to Mirren, she "wouldn't be surprised" if she had Jewish roots on her mother's side (her father's side is goyishe Russian, her original last name being Mironoff). Mirren's mother came from London's East End, which had a sizable Jewish population.

But the plucky reporter just had to push on. "Have there been any moments when you thought — Oh, I feel very Jewish," he asked.

Mirren's response? "My love of sparkle."

Ouch. (For the oblivious, sparkle is diamonds.) Now, Mirren did backtrack by saying "I don't think that's particularly Jewish," but...

No, seriously, why are we deriding Mirren? She was just trying to be clever in responding to a stupid, stupid question. Posed by the "esteemed" New York Times and its reporter, Andrew Goldman, Jew. Sad. Very, very sad.

Some questions are better left buried...