…but at least she’s entertaining!

Erykah Badu - Twit?Erykah Badu’s recent visit to Israel began inauspiciously last Thursday when she told reporters and Israeli fans that she identified with Palestinian hip-hop and then expressed support for Louis Farrakhan:

The singer, who couldn’t name any Israeli hip-hop artists, said she identified best with the Palestinians and their hip-hop scene, saying they are part of her “tribe” of hip-hop… “They use (hip-hop) as a form of liberation, as a form of pre-resistance, as a form of therapy,” she said… She defended Farrakhan, the leader of the Nation of Islam, whose statements have been labeled “bigoted and anti-Semitic” by the Anti-Defamation League… “(Farrakhan is) not an anti-Semite. He loves all people,” Badu said. Her next album, “Nu AmErykah,” will be released Feb. 26, the date of Savior’s Day, a Nation of Islam holiday.

Well, Israel is a free country and anyone is free to express their opinions regardless of how un-nuanced, ignorant and ill-advised said opinions may be. Israeli reggae-soul band Karolina and Funset then joined Erykah at the end of the press conference in a black power raised fist salute. Former Israeli black panther Charlie Bitton must have laughed his ass off at the spectacle of privileged, white Tel Avivians doing the Black Panther salute.

But whatever. Entertainers are not judged by their idiotic political opinions. They are judged by their ability to be entertaining and apparently, Erykah put on an awesome show according to our own Leah Stern’s say so and this extremely fawning Y-Net review of the show. So uh… thanks for visiting our country Erykah. I hope you left with a more nuanced perspective of the situation in the Middle East. Also, should you decide to follow up with another show in Ramallah and Gaza, don’t tell them how nice your Israeli hosts were or how Israelis, like Farrakhan, are also greatly misunderstood. Trust me.

Follow me

About the author

ck

Founder and Publisher of Jewlicious, David Abitbol lives in Jerusalem with his wife, newborn daughter and toddler son. Blogging as "ck" he's been blocked on twitter by the right and the left, so he's doing something right.

27 Comments

  • Exercise on Orwellian Proofreading

    Were Erykah Badu’s delusions of grandeur (including her pretentious Def Jam cameos) textbook Koran:

    …but at least she’s entertaining!

    Erykah Badu’s recent visit to Palestine began inauspiciously last Thursday when she told reporters and Palestinian fans that she identified with Hamas hip-hop and then expressed support for Louis Farrakhan:

    The singer, who couldn’t name any Fatah hip-hop artists, said she identified best with the Hamastans and their hip-hop scene, saying they are part of her “tribe” of hip-hop… “They use (hip-hop) as a form of liberation, as a form of pre-resistance, as a form of therapy,” she said… She defended Farrakhan, the leader of the United States of Islam, whose statements have been labeled “bigoted and anti-Sharia” by the Anti-Defamation Mosque… “(Farrakhan is) not an anti-Shariate. He loves all people,” Badu said. Her next album, “Nu AmErykah,” will be released Feb. 26, the date of Allah’s Day, a Nation of Islam holiday.

    Well, Palestine is a free country and anyone is free to express their opinions regardless of how un-nuanced, ignorant and ill-advised said opinions may be. Palestinian reggae-soul band Karolina and Funset then joined Erykah at the end of the press conference in a black power raised fist salute. Former Palestinian black panther Charlie Bitton must have laughed his ass off at the spectacle of privileged, white Muslims doing the Black Panther salute.

    But whatever. Entertainers are not judged by their idiotic political opinions. They are judged by their ability to be entertaining and apparently, Erykah put on an awesome show according to our own Suha Arafat’s say so and this extremely fawning Al-Jazeera review of the show. So uh… thanks for visiting our country Erykah. I hope you left with a more nuanced perspective of the situation in the Middle East. Also, should you decide to follow up with another show in Ramallah and Gaza, don’t tell them how nice your Palestinian hosts were or how Pals, like Farrakhan, are also greatly misunderstood. Trust me.

  • How nice that this website censors comments made against an anti-semitic Black crackwhore. Typical wimpy, kapo, radical Commie self-hating Jews. Keep up the good work Hitler would definately approve. “Jewlicious” = “Judenratlicious.”

    EDITED BY THE MIDDLE: You see, I don’t like this shit on our website so I erased this pig’s first racist comment. I’ve let this through to show what he wrote. His crap will not be allowed through again.

  • Hahahaha, Middle, that was hilarious. I noticed it’s the very person that had accused me of using horrendous grammar a while ago. I’ll refrain from commenting on that person’s obvious lack of valuable education, knowledge of capitalization rules in English, knowledge of punctuation rules in English, knowledge of what tenses to use and when to use them, and comprehension of participal clauses. I do wonder though why they do not place more emphasis on such matters at those “seminaries” at which those people get trained.

    Anyhow, indeed, we’re not supportive of hateful, uneducated, racist, pseudo-religious fanatics, no matter what camp they allegedly are from. We do take the liberty to moderate comments the only intentions of which are to spur hate and to incite hateful debates among our valued readership. We do not, however, censor, moderate or purposefully delay* the approval of comments that disagree with us in polite terms and do even not shy away from more harsh criticism should / could this criticism be called for. Afterall, we’re human and possess the right to err.

    A person that has used the variety of twenty-five nicknames – some distinctively male, others distinctively female; some distinctively with an inclination to extremely-right wing Jewish Orthox splinter-group policies, others claming Jewish women to be infertile “whores” – to identify him-/herself might want to consider discussing his/her points with their various personalities before he/she posts comments here (note, I’m not using the pc ‘third person plural personal pronoun – third person singular verb’ combination as this very commentor has failed to understand this more readable approach in the past).

    *I have, on occasion, given shorter comments approval and left lengthier comments for later approval when I was in a hurry. I beg anybody’s forgiveness who may have felt offended by that; it has never been meant personally.

  • We’re censoring comments now? I mean this dude’s a douche and that’s self-evident so why censor? This makes me uncomfortable. Especially since we don’t have a little Chofetz Chaim logo adorned policy written anywhere. But whatever…

  • I’d call it “taking out the garbage”. What I meant to say above is that we don’t edit comments; some people don’t get the spam-filter thing..

  • uh, the Dung Gate is technically inoperative, since its currently under the jurisdiction of the Jordanians, who are summarily dumping Jewish antiquities – into one, big trash heap.

    Recycling, anyone?

  • ck, why exactly do we want racism here? Sometimes we allow antisemitism just to show what the assholes sound like, but he provided an anti-black tirade that was quite racist. Why should we give him a platform? There are lots of other places on the Internet where he can write his crap, I don’t see why we should give him the exposure.

  • Law over here doesn’t inevitably exempt you from taking legal responsibility for stuff published on your site even if you’ve got a disclaimer stating that you may not agree with and be held responsible for others’ comments and the contents of other sites linked to. I understand laws over here are somewhat stricter on that, but as far as I know, freedom of speech does not cover freedom to racist slurs overseas either.

  • *whistles the X-files theme*

    How would you feel if aliens (Americans are so peculiar to to this phenomenon) have subtly been depicted with East Asian features? Huh?

    Did you say you were from Germany?

    *Okee-mi-go-now-by*

  • Eliyahu, I wasn’t in the slightest bit referring to your or your comment. I am not familiar with each and any depiction of aliens on American TV and in film making; those I know from Startrek did not look Asian IIRC. I don’t quite see though how this or me being from Germany had anything to do with the post topic or the comment thread.

  • Oh, there’s freedom to indulge in racist smears over here, in the sense that there is no law against it that is in general operation (although companies and schools do have “hate speech” codes). And a lot of media “self censors” so they don’t get into trouble, especially when it comes to Islam. And there are editors at normal publications.

    You can say anything you want in a newspaper. People will just scream about it until you shut up, that’s all, or until the paper goes out of business or becomes a niche rag.

    I mean, you saw the Chinese panda Super Bowl commercial, didn’t you? I didn’t think that sort of stuff even occurred to anyone anymore. I can’t believe that someone didn’t say “Uhhhh….I don’t think so” when the idea was pitched.

  • Ephraim, I’ve never watched the Super Bowl or its commercials. 🙂

  • Pandas with Chinese accents, bamboo desks in their office, and signs that all had the “Chin Chin Chinaman” lettering you see on all cheap “Chop Suey” diner menus from the ’50s. The only thing missing was a gong and somebody with a queue, buck teeth and slits for eyes with his hands hidden in the sleeves of his gown.

    You had to be there, I guess.

    Tom, go over to the “Obama and the Jews thread and check out the Shelby Steele video interview on Obama. First-rate stuff.

  • Well, pandas are Chinese animals afterall. I don’t think any Australian would be offended if an Oz-tone commercial featured kangaroos.

    Tom, I’ve checked my pulse; as of now I’m alive. 🙂

  • It was the “Chin Chin Chinaman” accents, froylein.

    Like I said, you had to be there.

  • Race. The thread was about… whatever.

    I agree, China owns Pandas. And increasingly, they’re owning the global markets. So, no, they’re not offended by all the attention. Give ’em more, I say, as we near the Olympics.

    Vroom…

  • Didn’t read the post but I my hair looks like that in the morning, and man…it can make you bitchy…

  • Chutzpah, try Dove shampoo and conditioner.

    Ephraim, I’ll compensate by having some Chinese food one of these days. Care to join?

  • Yes! It is insightful for anyone who knows nothing about her and what she stands for….but everyone is entitled to their own opinion, outlook on life and how they should live it.

  • Hey everybody NEWSFLASH: the afro is a WIG, homegirl is a full-on racist, and her singing skills are fading.

  • she’s just another big mouth douche bag that knows nothing about the history of the middle east. she’s also a second rate singer at beast, sort of a watered down billie-esque r n b “diva”. for real singing talent listen to aretha, chaka, sylvia stripplin etc….

  • I really dont know about this. I dont know My spouse and I believe your thoughts, but I am going to merely agree to disagree. Thanks for the article though. – Drop me a visit at my replica watch store sometime!