Hip-hop mogul Russell Simmons compared New York City’s horse-drawn carriages with slavery and the Holocaust Thursday as he campaigned with animal-rights activists on behalf of Mayor Bill de Blasio’s proposed ban on the industry. “There were people for slavery, remember?”
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The Wall Street Journal reports that he likened horse carriages to slavery, ethnic cleansing and “people who put people in ovens”. “People for it”.
“It’s a Holocaust”, he added bluntly.
“We are even more disappointed to read that Simmons has expressed no regret for his remarks”, Foxman said.
“The promises you made matter”, Simmons warned de Blasio.
“Quite frankly, I am one of many council members who is undecided on the horse-carriage ban,” Greenfield said. You got in office because we put you there.
“AND THAT IS THE ONGOING SUFFERING OF THE 100 BILLION ANIMALS WHO ARE BORN TO SUFFER UNIMAGINABLE ATROCITIES EVERY YEAR”, Simmons said on his Instagram, in all-caps for emphasis. “We put you in, and we can take you out”.
“I respect Mr. Simmons’ passion for animal rights and while, by his own admission, he did not intend to offend, his comparison of the treatment of animals to the treatment of Jews by the Nazis is simply outrageous”.
As for Simmons’ comparisons to slavery and the Holocaust, a mayoral spokeswoman said the mayor “respectfully” disagrees, according to the Associated Press.
Simmons told the newspaper he wouldn’t be apologizing but he did not intend to offend the Jewish community.
He went on to say that the organization is disappointed that someone in New York, who’s worked with the Jewish community would say such a thing. “THE TAPE AND TRANSCRIPTS ARE CLEAR THAT I WAS REFERING TO THE WORST KARMIC DISASTER IN HUMAN HISTORY”, Simmons wrote, in all-caps.
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He later tweeted apologetically, contending that he is a lifelong opponent of anti-Semitism.
