American singer Kehlani, whose participation in Cornell University's end-of-year festival in New York was canceled last week due to her antisemitic comments regarding the war in Gaza ("F*ck Israel, F*ck Zionism" and "Long Live the Intifada" are just some of her articulate and scholarly expressions), has responded for the first time to the cancellation with a message that was partly conciliatory and partly defensive and combative.
30-year-old Kehlani uploaded a video to social media saying:
"They called me and asked me to clarify my words and declare for the millionth time that I am not antisemitic nor am I anti-Jew. I am anti-genocide, I am anti the actions of the Israeli government, I am anti an extermination of an entire people, I'm anti the bombing of innocent children, men, women… that's what I'm anti."
Singer Kehlani responds after she was cancelled from a Cornell University performance due to her anti-Israel stance.
"I am not antisemitic, not anti-Jew. I am anti-genocide, I am anti the actions of the Israeli government, I am anti extermination of an entire people." pic.twitter.com/UvtnO2jh0u
— Oli London (@OliLondonTV) April 28, 2025
"If you want to cancel me from opportunity, stand on it being because of your Zionism. Don't make it anti-Jew. This a played out game. All this because we want people to stop dying."
The singer clarified, emphasizing that she collaborates with Jewish organizations like Jewish Voice for Peace, and that she is saying this in front of her "Jewish-Palestinian best friend and Jewish engineer."
Although Kehlani is not considered a first-tier star in the US, she has released four studio albums in the past decade. Her first two albums, "SweetSexySavage" (2017) and "It Was Good Until It Wasn't" (2020), were very successful, reaching positions 3 and 2 on the US Billboard 200 albums chart, respectively.
Her fourth album, "Crash" from 2021, only reached number 25. Kehlani has repeatedly claimed, including in her new post, that elements are trying to sabotage her career. In the previous decade, she dated NBA star Kyrie Irving, who himself shared antisemitic posts and even claimed he believed the Earth was flat, though he later apologized for his statements.
