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This question may sound strange, but I thought I read that midrabannan it is forbidden to speak loshon hora about gentiles. And I thought that maybe it would be loshon hora on a director, even if it was a gentile, to say that his movie is, for example, rated R.

Raphael Chilungu
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    I don't know of any source that it is forbidden to speak loshon hora about gentiles. Regardless, many movie directors are Jewish, so your question might apply (assuming a mumar is subject to loshon hora, which isn't simple). – robev Mar 29 '23 at 15:38
  • May not be forbidden, but it is bad middos, isn’t it? And I thought the Torah wants us to work on our middot. So in that sense isn’t it better not to speak loshon hora about gentiles? – Raphael Chilungu Mar 29 '23 at 15:39
  • I don't disagree but it doesn't seem to be what the poskim say. In any event are you asking if one shouldn't say a movie is bad? Or that a movie is rated R? Those are different questions. – robev Mar 29 '23 at 15:41
  • I realize this may just be anxiety but I am worried that I may have spoken loshon hora by saying that a movie was rated R. – Raphael Chilungu Mar 29 '23 at 15:42
  • Related: https://judaism.stackexchange.com/questions/44678/loshon-hara-against-non-jews – Avishai Tebeka Mar 29 '23 at 15:56
  • It's completely public knowledge, so why should there be a prohibition at all? – AKA Mar 31 '23 at 12:16

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In Chofetz Chaim, a lesson a day it says:

It would seem that there is nothing derogatory about a statement of taste. To say, "I don't like dry wine," is a description of the speaker's preferences and not a critical evaluation of the wine. Ostensibly, then, one should be allowed to say that he does not like the oratory style of a given lecturer. In fact, however, such statements are generally prohibited, for they imply that the speaker lacks effectiveness.

zaq
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