Louis Farrakhan loses Twitter verification after ‘satanic Jew’ rant
Over the weekend, the little blue badge that houses a white tick and is placed next to verified Twitter accounts was removed from his account.
By ILANIT CHERNICKUpdated: JUNE 12, 2018 20:35Religious leader Louis Farrakhan gives the keynote speech at the Nation of Islam Saviours' Day convention in Detroit, Michigan, U.S. February 19, 2017.(photo credit: REUTERS/REBECCA COOK)
Twitter has removed the official verified status for controversial minister Louis Farrakhan after he posted a tweet last week calling Jews “satanic.”Farrakhan, who is the leader of the Nation of Islam – and has been accused several times in the past of being racist and antisemitic – posted a video of a recent sermon, captioning it: “Thoroughly and completely unmasking the Satanic Jew and the Synagogue of Satan.”Over the weekend, the little blue badge that houses a white tick and is placed next to verified Twitter accounts was removed from his account.The video was from a three-hour sermon that he gave on May 27 – his first since February. In it, he speaks about the “system of tricks and lies;” that Hollywood’s Jews have forced aspiring actors into anal sex to get parts; and that former president Barack Obama was “under Jewish influence” when he advocated for same-sex marriage, which Farrakhan deemed as “Satanic.”“I wonder, will you recognize Satan. I wonder if you will see the satanic Jew and the synagogue of Satan... because Satan has deceived the whole world,” he said, as the crowd he was addressing agreed and applauded.“Think about the message that I was blessed by God to give you today. Think about what they [the Jews] are going to say when they have been completely and thoroughly unmasked. Whenever you read that God has told the Jews to hear and obey and they say ‘I hear and I disobey,’ that’s Satan... [the Jews] are openly disobeying God. He [The Jew] will take down the whole world with him.”Farrakhan also added: “Do you know that many of us who go to Hollywood seeking a chance have to submit to anal sex and all kinds of debauchery – and [then] they give you a little part? It’s called the ‘casting couch’. See, that’s Jewish power.”In response to this comment, @TheMossadIL joked: “It may sound like his most vile antisemitic mouth garbage to date, but we believe @LouisFarrakhan is speaking from experience here. Clearly he didn’t enjoy his time on the casting couch.”A Twitter user named Mike joked that “he’s just mad he lost the lead in ‘Ali’ to Will Smith.”Anti-Defamation League head Jonathan Greenblatt tweeted on Monday: “We applaud @TwitterSafety @Policy for apparent removal of Farrakhan’s #verifiedstatus. His virulent hate & #antiSemitism, continuing unabated, clearly violates Twitter’s #hatefulconductpolicy. Such hate is unacceptable.”Several Twitter users called his tweet “real racism,” and added that “this guy is ridiculous.” Others said he was “completely mad” and “needs to be banned from Twitter.”According to Twitter, “the blue-verified badge lets people know that an account of public interest is authentic. The badge appears next to the name on an account’s profile and next to the account name in search results,” it said.In November the social network said that: “Verification has long been perceived as an endorsement. We gave verified accounts visual prominence on the service, which deepened this perception.”
