Facebook on Thursday deleted Louis Farrakhan’s video comparing Jews to termites, and responded to an inquiry from TheWrap by stating “the video was taken down because it violates our hate speech policies.”
In the video, which he posted on his Facebook page this week, the 85-year-old former calypso singer said, “So when they talk about Farrakhan, call me a hater, call me anti-Semite. Stop it. I’m anti-Termite. I don’t know nothing about hating somebody because of their religious preference.”
To the sound of rolling laughter from the audience, Farrakhan continued: “In fact, to the members of the Jewish community that don’t like me, thank you very much for putting my name all over the planet because of your fear of what we represent, I can go anywhere in the world and they’ve heard of Farrakhan. Thank you very much. I’m not mad at you, because you’re so stupid.”
Facebook dubbed the video “Tier 1 hate speech” and deleted it some time between Wednesday and Thursday.
Rabbi Shmuley Boteach tweeted on Wednesday that “Louis Farrakhan calling Jews termites is a virtual call to genocide. The Nazis regularly referred to Jews as roaches and pests who needed to be exterminated.”
Twitter, for its part, has yet to remove the Farrakhan video.