Brzezinski is the daughter of Jimmy Carter’s National Security Advisor Zbigniew Brzezinski, whose own father Tadeusz was a Polish diplomat, stationed at various times in Germany, the Soviet Union, and Canada. The Brzezinski family were Catholics, but in 2005, a genealogist published an article claiming that Tadeusz Brzezinski’s mother was actually born Jewish. Her family, however, converted to Catholicism in reaction to pogroms in Poland in the early 20th century. When Mika Brzezinski was asked about this report, she replied, “I don’t believe it. I’m not Jewish. Not that there’s anything wrong with that,” referencing the famous line from the Seinfeld television show about being homosexual. After criticism from the Jewish community, Brzezinski apologized for trivializing the issue.