Nation of Islam leader Louis Farrakhan says that Kanye West has no reason to apologize for statements he made during a November 26 interview with New York radio station Power 105.1 while discussing the problems President Obama has faced while in office.
When comparing President Obama to other Presidents, West said, “Man, let me tell you about George Bush and oil money and Obama and no money. 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.”
Farrakhan released the video, at least in part, because he said that he did not agree with the press release issued by the Anti-Defamation League (ADL) earlier this month.
“If the comments are true as reported, this is classic anti-Semitism,” Abraham H. Foxman, ADL National Director, said in a press release published on the organization’s website. “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.”
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“Did he lie?” Farrakhan says during an interview posted on The Final Call’s YouTube page Saturday (December 14). “No. He told the truth and the ADL, Mr. Foxman issued a press release.”
Farrakhan said he would like to have a dialog with Foxman.
“You wouldn’t put that small-time stuff over on me that you put on scared-to-death Negroes that if they mention ‘Jew’ and you call them ‘Anti-Semetic’ they start bowing to you and your pressure,” Farrakhan says. “Kanye West, don’t bow to the pressure to bow to apologize to anybody. You said nothing wrong.”
Farrakhan says that has a particular reason why he has the authority to weigh in on West’s comments and the reaction they generated.
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“‘Who are you, Farrakhan, to tell him that he said nothing wrong?’” Farrakhan says. “I am directly from the Christ and the Messiah, so what I tell ‘ya has more weight than anything that these enemies might want to say. You have nothing to apologize for. It is their fear of the truth and that’s why it gives me pleasure to defend my brother.”
