Liberal comedian says she was 'scared,' 'shaken,' 'freaking out' when boyfriend flew American flag

Liberal comedian Sarah Silverman addressed nationalism in the monologue for her Thursday Hulu show, "I Love You, America, With Sarah Silverman," and detailed a time when she felt an inexplicable fear after seeing an ex-boyfriend fly a U.S. flag in his yard.

What did Silverman say?

Silverman began her monologue by telling a story about a former boyfriend from years back.

"I had a boyfriend many years ago. He was my first boyfriend who had his own house, and one day I went outside to see what he was doing, and he was hoisting an American flag up the flagpole in his front yard," Silverman explained.

She noted that she "instantly felt very weird."

"It didn’t make sense, but I felt this feeling of like, um, I felt scared — yeah, I felt scared," the comedian admitted. "So I was like, 'Uh, what are you doing?' and he said, 'Raising the flag.'"

Silverman said that she asked her boyfriend why he was hoisting the flag, and he responded that it was because he loved America.

"I was like, 'Right, right, of course,'" she explained, "but inside I was shaken."

Silverman noted that she sought privacy and called her sister — who is a rabbi in Israel — and discussed her feelings of fear when encountering her ex-boyfriend's flag.

"I had no idea why I was freaking out," Silverman explained. "I just — I had this very visceral reaction, and my sister, who knows s**t because she’s a rabbi in Israel, explained to me, she was like, 'Dude, nationalism is innately terrifying for Jews. Think about it: flags, marching, blind allegiance? These things tend to ring a bell for us.'"

"Right," Silverman added. "Of course. Duh. It made sense."

Is there more?

Silverman segued into a talk about nationalism, which she ultimately ended up calling "tacky."

The liberal comedian noted that patriotism is loving your country, while nationalism is saying, "We're number one!"

Later in her monologue, Silverman added, "I fear that that 'We’re number one' nationalism is really like an old bed buddy of racism and xenophobia."

(Content warning: rough language)