Brad Carlton, a character on the U.S. TV soap opera "The Young and the Restless" for 19 years, has revealed that he is really George Kaplan, a Jew.

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Carlton is played by actor Don Diamont who really is Jewish. Because the show's location in Genoa City is white Anglo-Saxon Protestant, viewers and mythical town residents were shocked by the revelation Friday, the New York Post reported.

The story goes that Carlton is the son of an Italian-Jewish Holocaust survivor and was forced to assume an alias.

Lynn Latham, the show's head writer, said the series needed to create some excitement. The character will honor Jewish holy days, Diamont said.

"This (plot revelation) is so totally out of the box," he said, "and I'm thrilled with it, as a Jew who has certainly confronted anti-Semitism in my life."

The actor hopes the twist does not alienate his fans, but rather that it opens their eyes.