New Fox Streaming Channel Scraps Scheduled Live Broadcast of Speech by Louis Farrakhan Following Outcry
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by Benjamin Kerstein
Nation of Islam leader Louis Farrakhan speaking in Detroit, Mi. February 2017. Photo: Reuters / Rebecca Cook.
A new Fox Broadcasting Company streaming channel canceled on Monday a scheduled live feed of an address by antisemitic Nation of Islam leader Louis Farrakhan after facing a torrent of criticism.
Fox Soul — which is geared toward African Americans — advertised the July 4 speech under the title “The Criterion: The Honorable Minister Louis Farrakhan Speaks Live,” but soon after removed the ad from Twitter.
Following the widespread outcry, Fox Soul tweeted later on Monday that the Farrakhan speech would not be aired.
— foxsoultv (@foxsoultv) June 29, 2020
The Simon Wiesenthal Center had called for the broadcast to be scrapped, recalling, “Since the 1980s, Louis Farrakhan has denigrated the Jewish people, Judaism, and the Jewish State, members of the LGBT community, the United States of America, and entertainment leaders from Hollywood.”
It called Farrakhan “a demagogue and divider at a time when all Americans need to hear messages of unity and hope.”
“We urge Fox Television Network to cancel the speech by a person who has spent his adult life spitting on everything July 4th stands for,” they concluded.
CNN anchor Jake Tapper was among dozens of others who weighed in on social media, tweeting, “Farrakhan is a vile anti-LGBTQ anti-Semitic misogynist. Why is a Fox channel airing his propaganda?”
Farrakhan is a vile anti-LGBTQ anti-Semitic misogynist. Why is a Fox channel airing his propaganda? https://t.co/dmX7A6LSd2
— Jake Tapper 🦅 (@jaketapper) June 29, 2020
Farrakhan — long noted for his hatred of Jews — is a black supremacist who considers all non-black races inferior. He has referred to Jews as “the synagogue of Satan” and “termites.”
