Rapper Ice Cube on Wednesday blasted NBA Hall of Famer Kareem Abdul Jabbar, who had expressed frustration over the lack of outrage in the sports and entertainment industries over recent incidents of antisemitism, including those involving Ice Cube himself.
In a column published by The Hollywood Reporter on Tuesday, Abdul-Jabbar called out recent antisemitic tweets and social media posts against Jews by Ice Cube and NFL star DeSean Jackson, among others, and explained how silence from sports and entertainment figures “perpetuates racism” and contributed to an overall “Apatholypse.”
Abdul-Jabbar wrote, “Given the New Woke-fulness in Hollywood and the sports world, we expected more passionate public outrage. What we got was a shrug of meh-rage” in Hollywood and in sports.
He also castigated ex-NBA player Stephen Jackson, who defended DeSean Jackson, further spread anti-Jewish conspiracy theories and voiced support for Nation of Islam founder and notorious antisemite Louis Farrakhan.
“These famous, outspoken people share the same scapegoat logic as all oppressive groups from Nazis to the KKK: all our troubles are because of bad-apple groups that worship wrong, have the wrong complexion, come from the wrong country, are the wrong gender or love the wrong gender,” Abdul-Jabbar explained. “It’s so disheartening to see people from groups that have been violently marginalized do the same thing to others without realizing that perpetuating this kind of bad logic is what perpetuates racism.”
Abdul-Jabbar’s article angered Ice Cube, who tweeted, “Shame on the Hollywood Reporter who obviously gave my brother Kareem 30 pieces of silver to cut us down without even a phone call.” The rapper’s mention of “30 pieces of silver” is a clear reference to the amount that Judas Iscariot sold out Jesus for, according to the New Testament.
The “Good Cop Bad Cop” rapper was accused last month of “inciting racism” for sharing on Twitter a series of antisemitic images and praising Farrakhan.
In one instance, Ice Cube — whose real name is O’Shea Jackson — shared on Twitter a caricature that resembled antisemitic propaganda used by Hitler and the Nazis to incite hatred against Jews.
He has refused to remove any of the offensive images, even after repeated requests from social media followers.
Ice Cube has an extensive history of exhibiting a hostile attitude toward the Jewish community. In 1991, the Simon Wiesenthal Center condemned his album “Death Certificate” for including racist lyrics, including one part in which he called for the murder of a Jewish music industry figure.
In 2015, he allegedly had his entourage physically attack a rabbi who he bumped into in Detroit. Ice Cube, the rabbi said, “unleashed a string of antisemitic epithets at him for wearing a yarmulke.”
(Algemeiner).