Lakeith Stanfield Apologizes For Clubhouse Anti-Semitic Discussion
Lakeith Stanfield Apologizes For Clubhouse Anti-Semitic Discussion
Lakeith Stanfield has issued an apology for participating in a Clubhouse conversation that facilitated Anti-Semitic remarks. The “Judas and the Black Messiah” actor was featured as a moderator in a Clubhouse chat room on Wednesday (May 5) which focused on the teachings of controversial Nation of Islam leader, Louis Farrakhan, when the conversation turned anti-Semitic. According to the Daily Beast, comments made by participants in the Clubhouse room titled, “Someone Ended the Room About Farrakhan,” (spawned from another room that was shut down earlier that night) allegedly included praise of Hitler, and conspiracy theories about Jewish people running the slave trade, and comparisons of Jewish people to termites. Stanfield claims that he was made a moderator of the chat after the hosts noticed he was in the room listening. In a lengthy Instagram post, Lakeith Stanfield wrote,
“Yesterday I entered an online chat room on Clubhouse about the teachings of Louis Farrakhan. When the room’s participants noticed me, I was quickly made a moderator of this room. At some point during the dialogue the discussion took a very negative turn when several users made abhorrent anti-Semitic statements and at that point, I should have either shut down the discussion or removed myself from it entirely.
He continued,
“I condemn hate speech and discriminatory views of every kind. I unconditionally apologize for what went on in that chat room, and for allowing my presence there to give a platform to hate speech. I am not an anti-Semite nor do I condone any of the beliefs discussed in that chat room.”
This quickly garnered a lot of attention on social media. Some fans in support of Stanfield, declaring he is innocent, while others criticized the actor.
On Thursday (May 6), Stanfield participated in another Clubhouse room run by a panel of Jewish educators, where he admitted the prior discussions that included anti-Semitic remarks became “derailed.” While Lakeith Stanfield was in the Clubhouse chat room that took place on Wednesday, he was not heard saying anything directly anti-Semitic during the conversation. For those unfamiliar with the popular app, Clubhouse is an invite-only social media platform where users can create, host, moderate and/or listen to audio-only conversations happening on the app at any given time.
What are your thoughts on Lakeith Stanfield being apart of the controversial Clubhouse chat room? Let us know in the comments below!