Ice Cube’s politics is catching up with him.
Despite the strides that he has made as a movie star, a businessman, and even working with the former president on his proposed, “A Contract with Black America,” some stances he made early on in his career as a rapper has made some leaders in Fayetteville, Arkansas upset that he received a key to the city.
But get this … it wasn’t the “F##k the Police” NWA stuff that ticked them off.
Ice Cube performed in Fayetteville last weekend at JJ’s Live and received the key from the Mayor.
Representatives of religious communities in Northwest Arkansas believed that various anti-Semitic statements made him a poor candidate for the honor.
According to Fox 24, the clergy submitted a letter to Mayor Lioneld Jordan and the city council that blasted them.
The letter said, “We are concerned such actions by the city will bolster anti-Semitism in the region and state. At the very least, the gift of such a key to Ice Cube represents tacit approval of his views, which are not only anti-Semitic but also misogynist. A quick search of his statements on women and Jews will very quickly discover multiple statements too harsh to reproduce in a letter to the editor for the paper. He’s that extreme.”
As recently as 2020, Ice Cube was called out for being anti-Semitic. Check out these screenshots from his Twitter.
In his song, “No Vaseline” he famously rapped, “Get rid of that Devil real simple / Put a bullet in his temple / ’Cause you can’t be the N*gga 4 Life crew / With a white Jew telling you what to do / Pulling woolds with your scams / Now I gotta play Silence of the Lambs.”
In his song, “True to the Game,” he continued with more lyrics that were offensive to the community, “N*gga go home’ spray-painted on your house / Trying to be white or a Jew / But ask yourself, who are they to be equal to? / Get the hell out / Stop being a Uncle Tom, you little sell-out.”
The Daily Beast shared a statement of Ice Cube defending himself against the various anti-Semitism allegations. He once said, “I’m not against Jews in either of those songs. I’m just doing what they do in the media. When they describe someone they often say he’s black or Korean or Muslim. That’s all I’m doing. Saying he’s a Jew doesn’t mean I don’t like Jews or I’m using a negative. I don’t like (Heller), but it’s not because he’s Jewish.”
One of those who signed the letter was co-president of Temple Shalom in Fayetteville.
Toby Klein said, “I don’t think that we can detangle one aspect of discrimination from another. The reality is everyone is a complicated individual with nuance to their stories, but this individual has made his intentions very clear.”
Still, the city is standing by its decision according to City Council Member D’andre Jones, who actually presented the key to the “Rollin’ wit the Lench Mob” rapper.
He shared that giving the key doesn’t mean that the city agrees with Ice Cube on his personal politics but acknowledges his impact on people of color throughout his career.