Ticketmaster is under fire from Jewish groups after the company sold tickets for an event hosted by Nation of Islam head Louis Farrakhan, The Jerusalem Post reports.
Ticketmaster sold tickets for Louis Farrakhan's Saviours' Day conference last month in Chicago. That event is the Nation of Islam's annual holiday to celebrate the birth of its founder, W. Ford Muhammad.
According to the Anti-Defamation League, the event served "as a platform for vitriolic antisemitism and anti-LGBTQ+ bigotry."
The Simon Wiesenthal Center, a U.S.-based Jewish human rights group, condemned Farrakhan and criticized Ticketmaster following the event.
"We have tracked and denounced Farrakhan and his trail of Jew-hatred and anti-Semitic incitement for four decades. Yet, the godfather of hate has rarely been publicly criticized," said the organization's associate dean and director of global social action agenda, Rabbi Abraham Cooper.
"Indeed, access to this year’s speech was handled by Ticketmaster, at a time when American Jewry is reeling from violent anti-Semitic hate crimes. Farrakhan has rarely been held accountable for his serial Jew-hatred and in 2023, Ticketmaster and others have monetized his hate and expanded the reach of his hatred."
Ticketmaster also received an open letter that was organized by the group Creative Community for Peace criticizing them for selling tickets to the event.
CCFP Director Ari Ingel said in a statement: "Louis Farrakhan is one of the leading purveyors of antisemitism in America, as noted by the ADL and the Southern Poverty Law Center. His views are incredibly dangerous and we’re disappointed to see Ticketmaster enable his promulgation of hatred.
"We hope [Ticketmaster CEO Michael] Rapino reconsiders, especially at a time when antisemitism continues to become more and more normalized."
Theodore Bunker ✉
Theodore Bunker, a Newsmax writer, has more than a decade covering news, media, and politics.
© 2024 Newsmax. All rights reserved.