Katy Perry's family circus goes on: Days after Russell Brand filed for divorce from the singer, her father is drawing criticism from the Anti-Defamation League for a sermon he delivered last week at a church in Ohio.

Keith Hudson, an evangelist preacher, spewed anti-Semitic epithets in front of hundreds of worshippers, according to various reports.

Open gallery view Katy Perry at the 39th Annual American Music Awards, Los Angeles, Nov. 20, 2011. Credit: AP

You know how to make the Jew jealous?" he said at the Church on the Rise, a nondenominational church in Westlake, Ohio. "Have some money, honey. You go to L.A. and they own all the Rolex and diamond places. Walk down a part of L.A. where we live and it is so rich it smells. You ever smell rich? They are all Jews, hallelujah! Amen.

The remarks were "unabashedly anti-Semitic," Abraham H. Foxman, national director of the ADL and author of Jews & Money: The Story of a Stereotype, said in a statement released Monday.

"We have seen [this stereotype] previously manifested in pop culture and in religious and political spheres," he said. "Church-based anti-Semitism historically has been one of the most virulent forms of this disease. We have made much progress in this country in terms of religiously based anti-Semitism. Thats why this manifestation is so disturbing. It is always much worse when it comes out on a religious platform – when an individual who is looked up to as a religious leader gives the old anti-Semitic stereotypes a patina of renewed credibility.

Foxman said Hudson's remarks likely would have stayed "within the confines of a congregation," were it not for the fame of his daughter, Katy Perry (born Katheryn Elizabeth Hudson).

"Because this is the father of a pop celebrity, the anti-Semitic remarks he uttered are taking on a life of their own, both in the echo chamber of the Internet and in the real world," he said.

Foxman added that, while Perry is "blameless" for what her father said, "It is unfortunate that her good name is now attached to her fathers words."

Hudson apologized for his anti-Semitic remarks in a letter to the ADL, who published his remarks in a press release Tuesday.



"I deeply regret the hurtful and ugly language I used in my message in Ohio," Hudson wrote. "I used images about Jews rooted in the worst anti-Semitism in the past, images that at times led to the persecution and murder of Jews. I can't tell you where I picked up phrases and descriptions that became part of my vocabulary. I used them without ever considering what they meant.

On behalf of the ADL, Foxman welcomed Hudsons apology, saying I hope he will use this experience as a means to learn more about why anti-Semitic stereotypes have endured through the centuries.

A spokesperson for Perry told TheWrap she had no comment.

On Saturday, Perry tweeted, "Concerning the gossip, I want to be clear that NO ONE speaks for me. Not a blog, magazine, 'close sources' or my family." But it's presumed that the tweet was in reference to the divorce, not her father's comments.