Rapper B.o.B’s New Song Invoking Antisemitism, Holocaust Denial Has Jewish Group ‘Deeply Troubled’
by Shiryn Ghermezian
A Jewish human rights organization expressed concern on Wednesday over a new song by a popular US rapper that includes lyrics promoting antisemitic conspiracy theories and cites a Holocaust denier, The Algemeiner has learned.
The Anti-Defamation League (ADL) was responding to Tuesday’s release of B.o.B’s “Flatline,” the lyrics of which include: “But before you try to curve it, do your research on David Irving; Stalin was way worse than Hitler, That’s why the POTUS gotta wear a Kippa.”
Irving is a historian who has questioned the existence of the Nazi gas chambers during World War II.
ADL CEO Jonathan A. Greenblatt issued a statement saying that though it is unclear whether the rapper intended for the lyrics to be “taken seriously,” it is “nonetheless troubling that B.o.B seems to have given new life to the antisemitic conspiracy theory of Jewish control of the US government, while handing a free publicity gift to the notorious Holocaust denier, David Irving.”
“His lyrics are irresponsible and could potentially promote antisemitic beliefs,” Greenblatt added, “especially in those people who might already be infected by such notions.”
The ADL noted that the song was quickly removed from the Internet, seeing this as a “positive first step to acknowledging a mistake here, but it is not nearly enough. We hope that B.o.B will find a way to communicate clearly to his fans that Holocaust denial is unacceptable and that he will apologize for invoking the age-old conspiracy theory about Jewish control of the government.”