Smokey Robinson delivers his Chanukah greeting.
Singer Smokey Robinson is a Detroit treasure. Still, you might not want to ask him to light the Chanukah candles tonight or whip up a batch of latkes (potato pancakes). Here's why.
Robinson, 80, is listed on Cameo, a service where celebrities offer personalized video messages for a fee. In this case, Jeff Jacobson dished out $350 to get Robinson to send some Chanukah love to his mother, the Metro Times reports.
"My mom grew up on the same street as Smokey Robinson in Detroit,” Jacobson tweets. “So for Chanukah, I wanted to reunite them via @Cameo. But the video takes a strange twist.”
Robinson delivers, but raises a few eyebrows with his message. (see video below)
“They told me you used to live in Detroit across the street from me, that's beautiful,” Robinson says in the video. “How're you doing, again? Nice talking to you, again, I guess.”
First off, he is way off in pronouncing Chanukah, calling it "Chon-nuke-ah.”
“They wanted me to wish you a happy Chanukah,” he says. “I have no idea what Chanukah is, but happy Chanukah because they said so. Anyway, god bless you, babe, and enjoy Chanukah."
The eight-day Jewish celebration, Hanukkah or Chanukah, commemorates the rededication during the second century B.C. of the Second Temple in Jerusalem, where, as the stories goes, the Jews rose up against their Greek-Syrian oppressors. Jews celebrate by lighting candles for eight nights. The holiday began last Thursday and ends this Friday.
My mom grew up on the same street as Smokey Robinson in Detroit. So for Chanukah, I wanted to reunite them via @Cameo. But the video takes a strange twist. pic.twitter.com/IZ3S9WusiJ
— Jeff Jacobson (@jeffjacobson) December 13, 2020
