The president of Cornell University announced Wednesday that the school’s invitation to pro-Palestine R&B singer Kehlani’s to perform on campus has been revoked.
President Michael Kotlikoff spoke with multiple students about the singer’s invitation to perform at the university’s Slope Day event, according to a statement. He said he conferred with the student Slope Day Programming Board, reaching an agreement that the invite had undermined the purpose of the annual end-of-classes concert.
Koltikoff claimed that Kehlani’s selection had “injected division and discord into Slope Day,” saying that was the reason for the cancellation. He added that a new lineup for the year’s Slope Day would be announced later.
“In the days since Kehlani was announced, I have heard grave concerns from our community that many are angry, hurt, and confused that Slope Day would feature a performer who has espoused antisemitic, anti-Israel sentiments in performances, videos, and on social media. While any artist has the right in our country to express hateful views, Slope Day is about uniting our community, not dividing it,” Kotlikoff wrote.
Students and parents expressed reservations after the programming board announced that Kehlani would perform at Slope Day, according to The Cornell Daily Sun.
Kehlani has faced criticism for her public views on the Israel-Palestine conflict. She released a music video for her song “Next 2U” last year that showed the words “Long Live the Intifada” near the beginning. Intifada often refers to the First and Second Intifadas, frequently called popular uprisings against the Israeli presence in the West Bank and Gaza. The First Intifada lasted from 1987 to 1993 and the Second from 2000 to around 2005, and each featured violent attacks by both sides, according to Britannica.
Kehlani allegedly called Zionists “scum of the earth” and wrote “it’s f*** Israel from the top of my lungs. idc about the f***in’ threats. DISMANTLE ISRAEL. ERADICATE ZIONISM,” on her Instagram story, according to screenshots posted by pro-Israel student groups, including the Cornellians for Israel Club. Zionism was an international movement aimed at establishing and then supporting a Jewish state. (RELATED: Anti-Israel Protesters’ Attempt At Second Encampment Fizzles Out After School Threatens ‘Retribution’)
Hillel International, a Jewish campus organization, estimates there are around 2,500 undergraduate and 500 graduate Jewish students attending Cornell, making up 16% of the student body.
The Trump Administration froze over $1 billion in federal funding to Cornell University over possible civil rights violations in early April. The Department of Education included Cornell in a letter to 60 colleges, including five other Ivy League universities, threatening to pull funding from schools that they determine failed to protect Jewish students.
The federal government also recently froze $2.2 billion in federal funding to Harvard for its alleged refusal to take action against antisemitism. The university is now suing the Trump administration. “The University will not surrender its independence or relinquish its constitutional rights,” Harvard President Alan Garber said in a statement.
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