On the Fourth of July, Nation of Islam leader Louis Farrakhan delivered a three-hour address on YouTube featuring a litany of antisemitic remarks. Among the attacks, Farrakhan said that Jews are responsible for supplanting Torah with the Talmud: “They made that word in their minds and in their believers’ minds greater than God’s word.” Farrakhan also referred to the head of the Anti-Defamation League as “Satan.”
Farrakhan’s speech, with over 760,000 viewers on YouTube at the time of this piece’s publication, was promoted by the rap artist Sean Combs to his 35 million Twitter followers. Combs, known now as Diddy (previously Puff Daddy, P Diddy and Puffy), is founder of the Revolt music-oriented network which hosted the minister’s address.
Direct violation of YouTube’s terms and conditions
The fact that this speech was broadcast on YouTube runs counter to the video-sharing platform’s policy. YouTube officially prohibits content that promotes or condones violence or incites hatred against individuals or groups based on core characteristics such as ethnicity, gender and sexual identity, and religion.
By giving Louis Farrakhan a pass, YouTube is allowing him to hijack the worthy cause of racial justice and equality that the tragic death of George Floyd has drawn worldwide attention to. And this failure to acknowledge and act on Farrakhan’s long history of making antisemitic remarks is enabling public figures with massive social media followings to promote the minister.
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Farrakhan talks about racism, police brutality…and Jews being termites
Recently, stars such as Jameela Jamil, Jessica Chastain and Chelsea Handler shared a video of Louis Farrakhan on their social media. The clip shows Farrakhan explaining that white people are fearful of black power as they believe the violence historically enacted against black people could be enacted against them as well. Farrakhan’s well-documented history of antisemitic remarks was ignored or greatly downplayed by these influential cultural icons.
Related reading: Is Antisemitism Legally Protected Free Speech?
Due to a public backlash, Handler finally deleted the video. But by then, it had reportedly been shared and liked by a wide range of other celebrities, despite Farrakhan’s well-documented history of virulent antisemitism and homophobia. Handler’s post came less than a week after the rapper Ice Cube tweeted a series of antisemitic posts to his 5.4 million followers, including praise of Farrakhan. He faced little pushback from mainstream Hollywood voices.
Hijacking the memory of George Floyd
Eradicating racism, and combating senseless violence that’s inflicted by law enforcement are noble causes. Unfortunately, Nation of Islam leader Louis Farrakhan is cynically manipulating the memory of George Floyd to push an antisemitic and anti-Israel agenda. By promoting hate and intolerance, Farrakhan warps the cause of racial justice. The danger here is that by ignoring Farrakhan’s antisemitism, antisemitic and BDS groups will be emboldened to hijack legitimate causes around the world to target Jews and Israel.
FOX Soul TV bumps Farrakhan, what about YouTube?
While YouTube has failed to act decisively, Fox Soul television network canceled plans to air Farrakhan’s message. For this, the network should be recognized and praised. The good news is that there’s something you can do to stop Farrakhan’s message of hate from spreading. Simply go on YouTube and:
- Go to the channel page you want to report
- Click About
- Click Report
- Select the option that best suits your issue.
Because when it comes to combating the spread of antisemitism, silence is most certainly not golden.
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Feature image: image of Louis Farrakhan via Wikimedia Commons.
