Last month, rapper Kanye West gave an inflammatory interview on Power 105’s The Breakfast Club and made remarks that some have labeled anti-Semitic.
“Man, let me tell you about George Bush and oil money and Obama and no money,” Kanye said. “People want to say Obama can’t make these moves or he’s not executing. That’s because he ain’t got those connections. Black people don’t have the same level of connections as Jewish people. Black people don’t have the same connection as oil people.”
The Jewish Anti-Defamation League was quick to condemn the “New Slaves” performer.
“If the comments are true as reported, this is classic anti-Semitism,” Abraham H. Foxman, the League’s national director, said in a statement. “There it goes again, the age-old canard that Jews are all-powerful and control the levers of power in government. As a celebrity with a wide following, Kanye West should know better. We hope that he will take responsibility for his words, understand why they are so offensive, and apologize to those he has offended.”
Now, outspoken Nation of Islam leader Louis Farrakhan, who is infamous for his clashes with the Jewish community, has come to West’s defense in a video clip entitled “Kanye West, don’t give in to Jewish pressure,” in which he says:
“Now the ADL has jumped on Kanye West, because he said; ‘black people don’t have the same level of connections as Jewish people. Black people don’t have the same connection as oil people.’ Did he lie? No, he told the truth.”