“The Nation of Islam’s annual Saviors’ Day event regularly serves as a platform to amplify hate and bigotry.”
By Algemeiner
The Anti-Defamation League (ADL) expressed concern on Friday after it learned that ticketing giant Ticketmaster was selling tickets to the annual “Saviors’ Day” event organized by the Nation of Islam (NoI).
In a letter to Ticketmaster CEO Michael Rapino, ADL chief Jonathan Greenblatt included a list of the antisemitic outbursts of NoI’s veteran leader, Louis Farrakhan, in a succession of Saviors’ Day speeches.
In his 2019 address to the event, Farrakhan claimed that “pedophilia and sexual perversion institutionalized in Hollywood and the entertainment industries can be traced to Talmudic principles and Jewish influence.” In a 2017 address to the same event, he insisted that those who identify as Jews “are not really Jews, but are in fact Satan…You are coming face-to-face with Satan, the Arch Deceiver, the enemy of God and the enemy of the Righteous.”
Greenblatt underlined that the 89-year-old Farrakhan’s inflammatory attacks have a long pedigree, citing a 1996 Savior’s Day address in which Farrakhan called Jews “wicked deceivers of the American people.”
He continued: “You have sucked their blood…You are the synagogue of Satan, and you have wrapped your tentacles around the US government, and you are deceiving and sending this nation to hell.”
Greenblatt told Rapino that the ADL was “not requesting any particular action from your company as it relates to your
commercial activities.” But, he added, “we would like to make you aware of Farrakhan’s past behavior and statements in relation to multiple protected categories of individuals, including people of the Jewish faith and LGBTQ+ individuals.”
Greenblatt then urged Rapino to “note that the Nation of Islam’s annual Saviors’ Day event regularly serves as a platform to amplify this hate and bigotry, not only from Farrakhan, but from extremists and conspiracy theorists who are often invited as guest speakers, including prominent Holocaust deniers and leading voices in the 9/11 ‘truther’ movement.”