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CCFPeace

CCFPeace
In Article

Ticketmaster Criticism Intensifies After Ignoring Calls to Deplatform Farrakhan Event

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Ticketmaster is starting to come under further criticism after the company seemingly ignored requests to deplatform tickets for Nation of Islam (NOI) leader Louis Farrakhan’s February 26 speech.

Ticketmaster is starting to come under further criticism after the company seemingly ignored requests to deplatform tickets for Nation of Islam (NOI) leader Louis Farrakhan’s February 26 speech.

Farrakhan gave the keynote address to the NOI’s Saviours’ Day conference in Chicago; prior to the event, Creative Community for Peace (CCFP) had sent a letter to Ticketmaster CEO Michael Rapino urging Ticketmaster to reconsider allowing tickets to be sold for the event. The letter was signed by more than 120 entertainment industry leaders including Haim Saban and Sherry Lansing but did not receive a reply from the company.

Farrakhan’s speech, according to the Anti-Defamation League (ADL), was “a relentless stream of antisemitic commentary accusing Jews of controlling world governments, the media, and financial institutions,” according to the ADL. Farrakhan also seemed to suggest that the Jews were going to face another Holocaust. “A Jewish man said to me, ‘You know, we say never again. Never again will we be in the oven. Never again,’” Farrakhan said, per the ADL. “I said, ‘Hold it.’ You can say that to men, but you can’t say that to God. Because the Bible says, behold the day cometh that shall burn — as a what? —as an oven. And those who do wickedly, He will slay them and leave them neither root nor branch…The War of Armageddon is to decide who will live on this earth.”

Additionally, Farrakhan defended rapper Kanye West as “a very great brother” and “young God.”

The Washington Free Beacon reported on March 2 that while most members of Congress have been silent on Ticketmaster allowing its platform to be used for the Farrakhan, they did find a couple willing to speak out. “It is extremely concerning that Ticketmaster is choosing to use its platform to elevate and promote a well-known antisemite,” Senator Marsha Blackburn (R-TN) told the conservative news site. “The targeting of the Jewish people has gone on far too long and must stop.”

“Antisemitism has no place in America,” Representative Cathy McMorris Rodgers (R-WA) also told the Free Beacon. “Ticketmaster should be completely transparent on why it chose to profit off of Farrakhan’s abhorrent history of hatred and violent threats of genocide against the Jewish people.”

Jewish groups also criticized Ticketmaster, per The Algemeiner.

“Four decades of non-stop vicious Jew-hatred from Louis Farrakhan has born poison fruit in the mainstream of our society,” Simon Wiesenthal Center Associate Dean and Director of Global Social Action Agenda Rabbi Abraham Cooper said in a March 1 statement. “Words lead to action and his toxic hatred has been absorbed by many including Kanye West. We urge all our neighbors to reject his hate and we must commit to strengthen our relationships for the betterment of all Americans whatever their color creed or orientation.”

He added: “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. 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.”

CCFP tweeted on February 28, “@Ticketmaster would rightly refuse to sell tickets to a KKK rally, but to our deep disappointment, they knowingly enabled Farrakhan’s dangerous #antisemitic hate.”

 

Stop Antisemitism said in a statement to the Journal, “Ticketmaster has completely lost its moral compass by profiting off the hate of someone like Louis Farrakhan.”

ADL Midwest Regional Director David Goldenberg told the Journal that they haven’t been focusing on Ticketmaster; their focus has been on the Metropolitan Pier and Exposition Authority (MPEA). The MPEA has a public-private partnership with Wintrust Arena, where the Farrakhan event was held. On February 13, the ADL Midwest had sent a letter to the MPEA in conjunction with the Chicago Jewish Community Relations Council and the LGTBQ+ advocacy organization Equality Illinois expressing concern over Farrakhan’s rhetoric; since the event took place, ADL Midwest has been urging the MPEA to condemn Farrakhan’s speech.

“We recognize that there may be contractual obligations, but we also felt that they have the right––a protected right––to speak out against that type of hate speech when it occurs underneath their roof,” Goldenberg said. “We have since shared excerpts from his remarks. We’ve engaged with board members and other public officials about this to express concern that… anything that has some type of public entity gave Farrakhan such a platform to espouse hate and bigotry and antisemitism.”

 

Ticketmaster did not respond to the Journal’s requests for comment.

CCFPeace
In Article

Haim Saban, Sherry Lansing and Other Leaders Call out Ticketmaster for Enabling Farrakhan Event

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Creative Community for Peace Letter Signed by More than 120 Entertainment Industry Heavyweights

The leading ticketing platform in sports and entertainment doesn’t seem to have a problem with Louis Farrakahn’s long history of anti-Semitism, according to a letter sent by entertainment industry heavyweights to Ticketmaster this week.

Creative Community for Peace, a leading entertainment industry trade group that promotes tolerance through the arts, sent a letter to Ticketmaster CEO Michael Rapino, expressing great concern about Ticketmaster selling tickets to Louis Farrakhan’s upcoming Saviours’ Day event on February 26h at Wintrust Arena in Chicago.

The letter, which was signed by entertainment executives Haim Saban, Sherry Lansing, singer/songwriter Diane Warren, and more than 120 other entertainment industry leaders, highlights a list of antisemitic and homophobic statements from Louis Farrakhan at past Saviours’ Day events. It urges the company to reconsider selling tickets to the event and to adopt the IHRA working definition of antisemitism, a guideline to help identify and combat anti-Jewish hate, such as that often espoused by Farrakhan.

“Mr. Farrakhan has labeled Judaism a “gutter religion;” stated that Jewish religious writings are responsible for “pedophilia, homosexuality, and sex trafficking” in America; regularly praises Hitler, calling him “a very great man;” the letter stated. “[Farrakhan] refers to Jews as insects; and falsely and outrageously claims that Jews orchestrated and dominated the African slave trade.”

Mr. Farrakhan has repeatedly invoked “Satan” when referring to the Jewish people. In his 2017 speech at Saviors’ Day, he said “Those who call themselves ‘Jews,’ who are not really Jews, but are in fact, Satan. You should learn to call them by their real name: ‘Satan.’ You are coming face-to-face with Satan, the Arch Deceiver, the enemy of God and the enemy of the Righteous.” And in 2020, he promoted violence by stating, “”Those of you who say that you are Jews, I will not even give you the honor of calling yourself Jews. You are not a Jew. You are so-called. You are Satan. It is my job now to pull the cover off of Satan. So when every Muslim sees Satan, pick up a stone.”

The letter includes additional incendiary quotes from Mr. Farrakhan over the years, highlighting his pattern of sharing antisemitic tropes and conspiracy theories with his audience. It also notes the fact that there are more hate crimes per capita against Jews than any other minority and that “, providing support of any kind to this sort of hatred is not just unacceptable, but dangerous.”

CCFP Director Ari Ingel added, “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 Mr. Rapino reconsiders, especially at a time when antisemitism continues to become more and more normalized.”

At the time of this writing, Ticketmaster CEO Michael Rapino has yet to respond to CCFP’s request.

 

CCFPeace
In Press Release

Entertainment Leaders Call on Amazon and Barnes & Noble to Remove Antisemitic Film and Book

Mila Kunis, Debra Messing, Mayim Bialik, Tracy-Ann Oberman, Aaron Bay-Schuck, Sherry Lansing, Emmanuelle Chriqui, and Haim Saban among 200+ celebrities and entertainment executives sign open letter calling for the removal of the antisemitic documentary and book recently promoted by Kyrie Irving

LOS ANGELES (November 10 2022) — More than 200 leaders from the entertainment industry have signed an open letter released by the non-profit entertainment industry organization Creative Community For Peace calling on Jeff Bezos, James Daunt, and other leaders at Amazon and Barnes & Noble to remove the antisemitic documentary and book, “Hebrews to N**roes” from their respective platforms. Since Kyrie Irving posted a Tweet with a link to the documentary and book, it has become a bestseller. Both Amazon and Barnes & Noble have refused to remove the title and continue to profit from its bigotry.

Mila Kunis (Actress), Debra Messing (Actress), Mayim Bialik (Actress), Sherry Lansing (Former CEO of Paramount Pictures), Tracy-Ann Oberman (Actress), Emmanuelle Chriqui (Actress), Haim Saban (Chairman & CEO, Saban Capital Group), Orly Marley (President, Tuff Gong Worldwide), Rick Rosen (Co-Founder, Endeavor), David Draiman (Frontman, Disturbed), Nina Tassler (Producer and Partner/Co-Founder, PatMa Productions); Diane Warren (Songwriter, Producer), Iliza Shlesinger (Comedian), and Ben Silverman (Chairman and Co-Chief Executive Officer of Propagate Content) are among 200+ signers of the open letter, which was made public today.

Addressed to leaders at Amazon and Barnes and Noble, the letter reads, “After more than a week of private messages and public calls to take the fallacious book and movie “Hebrews to N**roes” from your sites, you have so far refused to act.”

The statement’s signers are among the first in the entertainment industry to publicly and collectively call for the removal of the film, hoping to eliminate future radicalization and indoctrination.

“At a time in America where there are more per capita hate crimes against Jews than any other minority, overwhelmingly more religious-based hate crimes against the Jewish people than any other religion, and more hate crimes against the Jewish people in New York than any other minority, where a majority of American Jews live, it is unacceptable to allow this type of hate to foment on your platforms,” the letter continues.

“Respected platforms and companies like Amazon and Barnes & Noble have a choice,” said Ari Ingel, Director of Creative Community for Peace. “They can either continue to profit off of hatred and antisemitism, while turning a blind eye to the fears of the Jewish community, or they can choose to be an ally, and stand on the right side of history. While free speech is vital, corporations don’t need to help facilitate the spread of dangerous conspiracy theories that threaten the Jewish community. We implore them to take the prudent, responsible steps needed to remove this content.”

If you would like to add your name to this letter please click here.

Creative Community for Peace aims to promote the arts as a means for peace while fighting antisemitism in the entertainment industry and on prominent media platforms. To learn more about their cause, visit www.creativecommunityforpeace.com.

 

OPEN LETTER

To Jeff Bezos, James Daunt, and the leaders at Amazon and Barnes & Noble:

After more than a week of private messages and public calls to take the fallacious book and movie “Hebrews to N**roes” from your sites, you have so far refused to act.

The book and movie, and its contents, have been shared by several high-profile individuals causing tremendous harm to the Jewish community while spreading dangerous misinformation to an impressionable public that may be susceptible to its propaganda.

These works promote numerous antisemitic tropes and conspiracy theories that have no basis in fact, including manufactured Hitler quotes, false claims of Jewish power and control, that the Jewish people fabricated the Holocaust, and that the Jewish people are fake Jews.

The claims made in these works have led to the persecution and murder of millions of Jews throughout the centuries.

Over the past week, the book has become a bestseller on both sites. There has also undoubtedly been a spike in viewership of the movie on Amazon. Your companies are profiting from hate.

At a time in America where there are more per capita hate crimes against Jews than any other minority, overwhelmingly more religious-based hate crimes against the Jewish people than any other religion, and more hate crimes against the Jewish people in New York than any other minority, where a majority of American Jews live, it is unacceptable to allow this type of hate to foment on your platforms.

We, the undersigned, demand that you immediately remove these works from your sites.

 

SIGNATORIES

Jason Adelman: Vice President, Brand Innovators

Orly Adelson: President, Orly Adelson Productions

Marty Adelstein: CEO, Tomorrow Studios

Ben Adler: Musician

Michael Adler: Partner at Lichter, Grossman, Nichols, Adler, Feldman & Clark

Michael Auerbach: Partner, Jackoway Austen

Nate Auerbach: Partner, Versus Creative

Jeremy Barber: Partner, United Talent Agency

Eve Barlow: Music Journalist

David Baron: Rabbi, Temple of the Arts

Richard Baskind: Partner & Head of Music, Simons Muirhead & Burton

Aaron Bay-Schuck: CEO/Co-Chairman Warner Records

Hannah Bay-Schuck: Music Publisher, Prescription Songs

Miles Beard: Executive VP of A&R, Republic Records

Aton Ben-Horin: Executive VP of Global A&R, Atlantic Records Group

Pablo Bendersky: Producer/Artist

Hilary Bendon: Peace Partner, HXB LLC

Sandra Bendon: Attorney

Steven Bensusan: President, Blue Note Entertainment Group

Adam Berkowitz: Founder and President, Lenore Entertainment Group

Luc Bernard: Director, Voices of the Forgotten

Mayim Bialik: Actress

Josh Binder: Partner, Rotherberg, Mohr, and Binder LLP

Neil Blair: Partner, The Blair Partnership

Allison Bloom

Evan Bogart: Songwriter & CEO, Seeker Music

David Byrnes: Partner at Ziffren Brittenham, LLP

Markell Casey: Senior Director of A&R, Sony Music Australia

Brian Celler: Bravo Charlie Management

Pamela Charbit: A&R Manager, Atlantic Records

Emmanuelle Chriqui: Actress

Adam Cooper: Partner, Jackoway Austen

Leanne Coronel: President, The Coronel Group

Andy Corren: Author

Raye Cosbert: Managing Director at Metropolis Music

Ben Cosgrove: CEO, Leviathan Productions

Paul Craig: Chair, Nostromo Management

Avi Dahan: Attorney, Boyarski Fritz LLP

Ian Daly: Head of Brand Strategy, Live Nation

Greg Daniels: Writer and Producer

Howard Davine: Head of Business & Operations, Wiip

Josh Deutsch: Chairman/CEO – Premier Music Group

Avi Diamond: Director, Film & TV Licensing, Warner Music Canada

Kosha Dillz: Artist

Craig Dorfman: President and Owner, Frontline MGMT

Helen Dosik: Professor of Sociology, California State University, Northridge

David Draiman: Frontman, Disturbed

Beth Elitzer: B. Elitzer Consulting

Talya Elitzer: Co-Founder & President, Godmode Music

Craig Emanuel: Partner, Paul Hastings LLC

Daniel Erlig: Partner, United Talent Agency

Ron Fair: Record Producer & CEO, Faircraft Inc.

Sharon Farber: Composer

Paul Farberman: President, Paul Faberman Entertainment

Daniel Federman: Owner, Maccabi Tel Aviv

Eric Feig: Founder, Eric Feig Entertainment & Media Law, Inc.

Yossi Feinberg: Professor of Economics

Patti Felker: Partner, Felker, Toczek, Suddleson, & Abramson LLP

Jacob Fenton: Partner, United Talent Agency

Ken Fermaglich: Partner, United Talent Agency

David Fishof: Producer and Music Executive

Josh Fluxgold: President, Oneway MGMT

Erica Forster: Entertainment Attorney

Gary Foster: Principal in Krasnoff/Foster Entertainment

Jordan Frazes: Founder, Frazes Creative

Francine Freid

Adina Friedman: Friends at Work

Dara Frimmer: Rabbi, Temple Isaiah Los Angeles

Siri Garber: CEO & Founder, Platform Public Relations

David Gardner: President, Artists First

Nancy Gates: Partner, United Talent Agency

Andrew Genger: Manager, Red Light Management

Lorna Gerry

Gary Gersh: President, Global Touring, AEG

Gary Ginsberg: Senior VP, SoftBank Group Corp.

Karen Glauber: President, HITS Magazine

David Glick: Founder & CEO, Edge Group & Chairman, Tap Music

Elon Gold: Actor, Comedian

Nicole Goldman: EVP, Branding, The Jim Henson Company

Alex Goldstone: Partner, Anonymous Content

Michael Goldwasser: Record Producer & President/Co-Founder of Easy Star Records

Robert Golenberg: Partner at Silver Lining Entertainment Productions

Jonathan Golfman: Co-President, MRC Film

Michael Gordon: Partner, Creative Artists Agency

Andrew Gould: Music Executive

Cary Granat: Co-Founder & Partner, Destiny Media, EMH Media

Trudy Green: Trudy Green Management/HK

Scott Greenberg: Manager and Partner at LBI Entertainment

Steve Greenberg: Founder & President of S-Curve Records

Renee Haas

Ronnie Harris: Partner, Harris & Trotter LLP

Jo Hart: Founder, Hart Media

Avi Hirshbein: A&R, Electric Feel Entertainment and Ventures

Linda Edell Howard: Attorney, Novick Law

Ari Ingel: Director, Creative Community For Peace

Richard “BournRich” Ingram: Artist/Creative Director

Neil Jacobson: Founder & CEO of Hallwood Media

Jordana Jaffe: Writer & Producer

Brandt Joel: Agent, William Morris Endeavor

Zach Katz: President & COO, FaZe Clan

Jonathan Kellerman: Novelist

David Kendall

Ilan Kidron: Artist & Musician

Scott Kluge: President, Tremendous Entertainment

Amanda Kogan: Agent, The Gersh Agency

Rick Krim: CEO, Krim Music & Media

Mila Kunis: Actress

Seth Kurland; Television Writer/Producer

Matt Labov: Manager/Publicist

Gabz Landman: VP A&R, Warner Chappell Music

Sherry Lansing: Former CEO of Paramount Pictures

Colin Lester OBE: Founder/Chairman JEM Music Group

Jonathan Levav: Marketing Professor, Stanford University

Stephen Levinson: Filmmaker/Producer

David Levy: Former President of Turner/WarnerMedia, Founder of Back Nine Ventures

David Levy: Partner, William Morris Endeavor Entertainment

Cory Litwin: EVP, Hallwood Media

David Lonner: CEO, The David Lonner Co.

Ben Maddahi: SVP A&R, Columbia Records

Imran Majid: Co-CEO, Island Records

Gabriel Mann: Composer/Producer

Susan Markheim: Full Stop Management, The Azoff Company

Orly Marley: President, Tuff Gong Worldwide

John Mass: President at Content Partners, LLC

Nancy Matalon: VP of A&R, Spirit Music Group

Debra Messing: Actress

Art Mollen: Physician

Sadaf Muncy: SVP, Development & Production, HappyNest

Spencer Neumann: CFO at Netflix

Joel Nickerson: Rabbi, Wilshire Boulevard Temple

Julia Nickerson

Leetal Nissenbaum: SVP of Synchronization and Licensing, Giant Music & Iconic Artists Group

Lisa Nupoff: Manager at IMIN Music

Tracy-Ann Oberman: Actress

Scott Packman: Founder and Managing Member, SSP Partners LLC

Mandi Perkins: Artist, Composer, Author

Jonah Platt: Actor, Writer

Mike Praw: Music Executive

David Renzer: Former Chairman/CEO of Universal Music Publishing

Sydnee Rimes: Vice President of Current Programming at ABC Studios

Hanna Rochelle: Founder, Purple Productions, LLC

Alex Rockwell: Writer/Producer

Zoe Rogovin: SVP, Non-Fiction Programming, Showtime Networks Inc.

Dan Rosen: President of Warner Music Australasia

Rick Rosen: Co-Founder, Endeavor

Erez Rosenberg: Attorney, Jackoway Austen

Shani Rosenzweig: Partner, United Talent Agency

Michael Rotenberg: Partner, 3 Arts Entertainment

Autumn Rowe: Songwriter, Artist

Piper Rutman

Haim Saban: Chairman and CEO, Saban Capital Group

Asif Satchu: Co-CEO, MRC and Producer

Jacqueline Saturn: President, Virgin Music

Ayalet Schiffman: SVP, Head of Promotions, Island Records

Paul Schindler: Senior Chair of the New York Entertainment and Media Practice, Greenberg Traurig LLP

Steve Schnur: Worldwide Executive & Music President, Electronic Arts

Jordan Schur: CEO & Chariman, Mimran Schur Pictures and Suretone Entertainment

Sam Schwartz: Partner, Gorfaine/Schwartz Agency

Michael Seitzman: Producer, Maniac Productions

Camila Seta: Executive, Brand Consulting

Stefi Shabashev: Songwriter

DJ White Shadow: Producer/Artist

Iliza Shlesinger: Comedian

Noah “Westside Gravy” Shufutinsky: Artist

Jeremy Silver

Ben Silverman: Chairman and Co-CEO, Propagate Content

Ralph Simon: Chairman & CEO, Mobilium Global Limited

Marty Singer: Attorney, Lavely and Singer

Danielle Solzman: Film Critic, Solzy at the Movies

Jeff Sosnow: EVP A&R, Warner and Reprise Records

Nancy Spielberg: President, Playmount Productions

Donna Spievak: VP of Strategic Marketing, Interscope Records

Halle Stanford: President of Television & Executive Producer, The Jim Henson Company

Nancy Steingard: Producer & Partner/Co-Founder, PatMa Productions

Jonathan Steinsapir: Partner, Kinsella Weitzman Iser Kump & Aldisert LLP

Justin Sternberg

Gary Stiffelman: Founder, GSS Law

Rachel Strassberger: Manager, Grassroots Music

Aaron Symonds: Film Composer

Traci Szymanski: President, Co-Star Entertainment

Nina Tassler: Producer & Partner/Co-Founder, Patma Productions

Adam Taylor: President, APM Music

Scott Tenley: Chief Business Officer, MRC

Geffen Sonnenfeld Toar

Niv Toar: Composer

Fred Toczek: Partner, Felker Toczek Suddleson Abramson LLP

Eric Tuchman: Writer, Producer

Oded Turgeman: President, The Operating Room

Alex Voihanski: President, Paramount Business Group

Jeremy Vuernick: President of A&R, Capitol Music Group

Diane Warren: Songwriter, Producer

Joshua Washington: Artist/Producer

Jon Weinbach: President, Skydance Sports

Nola Weinstein: Global Head of Brand Experiences & Engagement, Twitter

Modi Wiczyk: Co-CEO, MRC & Producer

Evan Winiker: Managing Partner, Range Media

Jeffrey Winter: Executive Director, The Film Collaborative

Yale Wolman: Agent, CAA

Sharon Tal Yguado: Founder & CEO, Astrid Entertainment

David Zedeck: Global Head of Music, United Talent Agency

Bradley Zweig: Executive Producer/Writer

Additional Signatores:

Jamie Denbo: Co-Executive Producer, Grey’s Anatomy

Eric Kranzler: Founding Partner, Entertainment 360

Rosalie Swedlin: Partner/Managing Producer: Anonymous Content

Elizabeth Ziff: Singer/Guitarist, BETTY the band

Tiffany Shlain: Film Director, Author, Artist

Orlando Jones: Producer, Writer, Actor, Comedian

Tanya Lopez: EVP Scripted Content at Lifetime, A+E Networks

Mollie Fermaglich: Writer, WGA

Jill Zarin: Actor

John Andriani: Singer/Songwriter, The Dwellers

Tomer Capone: Actor

** Note – The signers of this statement do so as individuals on their own behalf and not on behalf of their companies or organizations. All organizations and companies listed are for affiliation purposes only.

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