Author Slams Amazon for Canceling Talk to Jewish Employees, Having Anti-Israel Rapper Macklemore Address Staffers
by Shiryn Ghermezian
The Amazon logo is seen at the Young Entrepreneurs fair in Paris, France, Feb. 7, 2018. Photo: REUTERS/Charles Platiau
Amazon has come under fire for a second time this week, and the most recent controversy involves a Jewish activist who accused the e-commerce giant of having a “big, giant Jewish problem” for allegedly canceling her talk to company employees but allowing anti-Israel rapper Macklemore to address staffers.
Best-selling author and renowned speaker Samantha Ettus revealed in an Instagram video on Tuesday that she was invited by Amazon a few months ago to speak to an unofficial group of Jewish employees at the company. However, her talk was eventually canceled because the human resources department at Amazon decided she was “too controversial,” said the Harvard graduate and former TED Talk speaker.
A few months later, Ettus explained, Amazon invited Macklemore to speak to employees, reportedly at an official seminar for Amazon employees who are suffering from addiction or in recovery, in honor of September being National Recovery Month.
The “Hind’s Hall” singer has publicly spoken about his alcohol and drug addiction, but has also publicly accused Israel numerous times of committing a “genocide” of Palestinians during the Jewish state’s ongoing war with Hamas terrorists, which began after last year’s Oct. 7 massacre in Israel. Hamas-led terrorists murdered 1,200 people in southern Israel and took over 250 hostages, including Amazon employee Alexander Trufanov, who remains in captivity. Amazon has so far not publicly commented on Trufanov’s kidnapping.
Macklemore accused Israel of “genocide” when he performed at a “Palestine Will Live Forever” benefit concert last month, which took place just weeks after his pre-taped, Zoom seminar for Amazon employees, according to the New York Post.
“Despite the Jewish people’s pleas that this is an antisemite, you can’t have him speak, the employees are up in arms, [Macklemore] is allowed to speak,” Ettus said in her Instagram video. “So Macklemore is not controversial but I am … Amazon, you have a huge Jewish problem. What are you going to do about it?”
An Amazon spokesperson responded to Ettus’s accusations on Wednesday in a statement to The Algemeiner.
“Many of these assertions lack important context, and it’s inaccurate and misleading to suggest we tolerate hostility in our workplace,” the spokesperson said. “We realize this has been a difficult time for many, and we remain focused on supporting all of our employees.”
Ettus shared the news the same week that Amazon executive Dr. Ruba Borno appeared in a promotional video for the company wearing a pendant in the shape of Israel that had a Palestinian flag imposed on top. Amazon has since deleted the video but not before the company faced backlash from social media users, who called the video “disappointing and insulting” to Jews, threatened to cancel their Prime subscriptions, and called for Borno’s firing.
Ettus has a Substack called “The Jewsletter” and launched a campaign called New Voices, in which non-Jewish and Jewish celebrities and influencers, including Cindy Crawford and Kevin Nealon, draw awareness to antisemitism. Ettus also co-produced the documentary “Primal Fear: Jews Under Siege.”
She claimed in her Instagram video on Tuesday that Jewish employees at Amazon have been denied the right to form their own employee resource group, also known as an affinity group, even though the company has 13 such groups already, including ones representing Asians, women, military veterans, people with disabilities, Latinos, indigenous workers, and members of the LGBTQ+ community. Amazon “refuses to officially acknowledge” Jews and allow them to create an affinity group for themselves because the company believes Jews are “a religion [and] not an ethnicity,” Ettus claimed.
