Actor and director Bradley Cooper. Photo: Reuters/Andrew Kelly

The children of the American Jewish composer Leonard Bernstein have risen to the defense of Bradley Cooper, the actor and director whose portrait of the late Bernstein in his new biopic has been criticized in some quarters as antisemitic.

The charge emerged after the trailer for the film — titled “Maestro” — was released showing Cooper, who directs and stars in the movie, wearing a prosthetic nose.

Critics on social media charged that the nose enhancement played with the antisemitic stereotype that Jews have noticeably larger noses. One user posted photographs of Bernstein next to Cooper, commenting, “This feels especially sinister because Bradley Cooper’s nose is already the same shape and size, if not slightly larger, than Leonard Bernstein’s was.”

Nevertheless, Bernstein’s offspring issued a statement defending Cooper, who is not Jewish.

“It happens to be true that Leonard Bernstein had a nice, big nose,” his children said. “Bradley chose to use makeup to amplify his resemblance, and we’re perfectly fine with that. We’re also certain that our dad would have been fine with it as well. Any strident complaints around this issue strike us above all as disingenuous attempts to bring a successful person down a notch — a practice we observed all too often perpetrated on our own father.”

They added that at “all times during the making of this film, we could feel the profound respect and yes, the love that Bradley brought to his portrait of Leonard Bernstein and his wife, our mother Felicia. We feel so fortunate to have had this experience with Bradley, and we can’t wait for the world to see his creation.”