Kabaka Pyramid ADD

Kabaka Pyramid Concerts Cancelled Due To Antisemitic Allegations! Well Done?!?

11/28/2024 by Reggaeville

Performing artist Keron Salmon aka Kabaka Pyramid finished his European tour earlier this month, which included a total of 22 shows planned from October 4th to November 2nd in England, Germany, Austria, France, the Netherlands, Belgium, Spain and Switzerland. After a successful kick-off in the UK, four of the subsequent shows in Innsbruck, Vienna, Munich, and Berlin were cancelled by the respective venues in Germany and Austria after they had received information about antisemitic statements allegedly made by the singer in several social media posts. Who exactly is behind these accusations? What did Kabaka say or do to be banned from performing?

After carefully scrutinizing all available sources, Reggaeville provides an in-depth wrap-up of the incidents that led to the cancellations. Unlike most German newspaper articles on the subject, which were hastily drafted based on a single report by the dpa (German Press Agency), we decided to wait and observe the reactions to this situation as well as to analyze the accusations. We took the time to search for and closely examine the content shared by Kabaka to understand the context in which the original videos are presented. We managed to do so and the results cast the allegations in a slightly different light. To our surprise, we seem to be the first to have looked so closely.

The stone was set rolling in mid-August when a private, anonymous initiative called Concerned Reggae Collective (CRC), hitherto unknown to us, sent a letter to the Ruhr Reggae Festival (Germany), urging the organizers to cancel the performance of Kabaka Pyramid scheduled for Saturday, August 17^th. The letter contained screenshots of above-mentioned supposedly antisemitic statements as well as a declaration by the German RIAS NRW (Research and Information Center on Antisemitism), who confirmed that “clearly anti-Semitic attributions are used” in the “received statements”. Copies of the letter were sent to the Minister of Culture in NRW (North Rhine-Westphalia), the mayor of Mülheim a.d. Ruhr, and the General Directorate of the GEMA (Society for musical performing and mechanical reproduction rights).

That same letter (Subject: URGENT APPEAL AGAINST ANTI-SEMITISM AND HATE SPEECH) was sent to the venues Junkyard (Dortmund), Backstage (Munich) and Maaya (Berlin) two months later on October 10, again in copy to the respective ministries of culture and the commissioner for antisemitism, this time signed by “Concerned Reggae Collective & Artists Against Antisemitism”.

The latter is a group founded in Germany in 2021 (supported by over 1000+ artists, authors, musicians and actors) which aims to “step up against antisemitism, always and everywhere” and had joined the cause of the CRC in the meantime. A copy of the letter, including the screenshots that constitute the “received statements” referred to by the RIAS can be downloaded @ ARTISTSAGAINSTANTISEMITISM.org.

The venue PMK in Innsbruck (Austria) was first to decide to cancel the upcoming show, followed by Flucc in Vienna (Austria), Backstage in Munich (Germany), and finally Maaya in Berlin (Germany), just a two hours before the concert was scheduled to start there.

Due to the short notice it seems unlikely that the venues took the time to investigate the matter as thoroughly as we attempt to do here; their reaction was certainly at least in part due to the implicit threat formulated in said letter to take legal actions against the venues should they not cancel the shows: “We would like to clarify that this letter does not exhaust our claims and that we reserve the right to exercise our rights under German law in parallel to our settlement efforts, if necessary.” The initiators left no doubt that they would not agree to any other option, as they “believe that the damage caused by Kabaka Pyramid’s posts cannot be repaired by a public apology” and that they “expect you [the venues] to actively address this issue and take the recommended decisive action”.

Given these demands, which left no room for discussion or exchange, the evidence must be very incriminating indeed. As unacceptable as any truly antisemitic statement is, as unlikely it seems that Kabaka Pyramid who, throughout his career, always stood up against racism and discrimination of any kind, should be involved in such drastic expressions. Let’s have a closer look at the allegedly antisemitic posts of the artist:

1. MAP OF PALESTINE - NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC (DECEMBER 1947)
Screenshot of Kabaka’s Instagram story, showing a picture of a map of Palestine, dating back to 1947 (one year before the state of Israel was founded), subtitled “Picture is worth a 1000 words”. RIAS NRW writes in their statement that “the artist’s post obviously wishes for a Palestinian state on the entire territory of Israel”. Although the artist made no such claim, he should have foreseen that, especially in these times of ongoing conflict between Israel and Palestine, a post like that will cause controversy.

SOURCES, LINKS & CAPTION

Original source on social media: unavailable.
National Geographic Edition: archive.org
Caption added by Kabaka Pyramid? possible, but not provable.

2. ONE PERSON's TERRORIST... IS ANOTHER PERSON's FREEDOM FIGHTER
Two screenshots of Kabaka’s Instagram story, in which he shared a reel originally posted by @mopcentre, a Nigerian account called “Movement of the People”, and Nigerian artist Seun Kuti. The caption reads “One person’s terrorist is another person’s freedom fighter”, and RIAS NRW claims that “Kabaka Pyramide [sic] shared a story in which Hamas terrorists are declared “freedom fighters” (…)”.

This is simply not true and raises the question if the person responsible at RIAS NRW really watched the reel in question. The original reel does not mention any aspect of the Israel-Palestine-conflict; it talks about activists such as Nelson Mandela, Jomo Kenyatta, Samora Machel, Amílcar Cabral and John Garang and ends in the words “Free Sudan”.

Thus, the statement by RIAS NRW quoted above is a false allegation, as neither Kabaka nor the reel shared in his story declares Hamas terrorists freedom fighters. The delicate issue here is that the dpa quoted RIAS’ statement, probably without checking the original reel, either – and all subsequent articles based on the dpa report just copied and pasted this sentence which, if assumed to be true, indeed sounds terrible and might have played an important role in the venues’ decision to cancel the concert.

SOURCES, LINKS & CAPTION

Original reel of the shared story by @mopcentre, @bigbirdkuti, @kellyhansome & @warri_warrior: WATCH HERE
Caption: NO caption added by Kabaka Pyramid!
Original reel by @panafricanacademy, which got reposted by the forementioned accounts: WATCH HERE

3. STOP THE ZIONIST MASSACRE....
Screenshot of Kabaka’s Instagram story, in which he shared a reel of @djwizzzle876 (reuploaded from @african_stream) that shows a man holding a sign saying “Stop the Zionist massacre and persecution in Gaza”. The RIAS NRW did not comment in detail about this story/reel in their statement.

SOURCES, LINKS & CAPTION

Original source on Instagram: @djwizzle876
Caption: NO caption added by Kabaka Pyramid!
Original reel by @african_stream: unavailable / profile offline!

4. MIDEAST CONFLICT DIVIDES THE WORLD @ The Reid Out - MSNBC

Screenshot of Kabaka’s Instagram story, in which he shared a reel posted by @sainthoax that shows news coverage by US-station MSNBC with a reliable assessment of what is going on in Gaza. Above the news headline, which reads “Mideast conflict divides the world”, there is a caption that says “if ur still not sure where you stand on the ongoing gen.0c!de [sic] watch this”. The RIAS NRW commented on this video in their statement by writing that “Israel is accused of “genocide” (…)”, which is not the case – there is no mention of the state of Israel, the viewers are simply invited to “watch this”, the column The Reid Out (hosted by Joy Reid, a political analyst for MSNBC).

SOURCES, LINKS & CAPTION

Original reel of the shared story: @drleanlevers
Caption: No caption added by Kabaka Pyramid!
Full MSNBC video is available on Youtube

5. PRIVATE MESSENGER CONVERSATION

Screenshot of a private conversation on Instagram messenger between Kabaka Pyramid’s Instagram account and an undisclosed interlocutor. The RIAS NRW states that, in this conversation, “the artist once again formulates the anti-Semitic narratives he has internalized”.

In the summary of their evaluation, which was delivered in January 2024, RIAS NRW comes to the conclusion that “supposedly harmless motifs of “criticism of Israel” occur in combination with openly anti-Semitic ideas” and state that it is “more than regrettable” that Kabaka Pyramid appears “to be blind to anti-Semitism” (the mentioning of artist Sevana in the same passage seems a bit strange, as it is irrelevant to the Kabaka case). In response to an inquiry made by Reggaeville, the RIAS NRW answered that neither the fact that the reel (point 2 above) doesn’t relate to the conflict in Gaza nor the content of the MSNBC report (point 4) were the basis for their evaluation; they just “consider it obvious” that the artist refers to the Hamas, taking into account “the overall circumstances”. At the same time, they distance themselves from the call-for-action of the initiators mentioned above; they stress that they were not involved in the open letter, but only rated the content of the examples sent to them by the CRC.

While the evidence put forth certainly invites a discussion about moral values and appropriate forms of criticism, the question is whether the accusations of antisemitic statements would be legally valid should the case be brought to court. The Instagram private messages sent by Kabaka Pyramid as well as the screenshots presented in the open letter were taken out of context and led to false assumptions.

The appeal and the assessment by RIAS were formulated in such a way that one gets the impression that Kabaka Pyramid wrote all the captions himself. However, our research shows that this is not the case.

He never “spread hate and incitement on stage”, as the Artists Against Antisemitism suggest on their homepage. The artist himself gave the following statement in reaction to the accusations described above:

KABAKA PYRAMID STATEMENT

“I, Kabaka Pyramid, have a long-standing history of sharing conscious messages, social commentary, and Universal Love through my music and actions for over a decade. The assumptions derived from story posts and private DM conversations taken out of context should not be misconstrued as a public statement of a political position or opinion.

I want to clarify that I am not anti-semitic or against any race or group and these accusations are completely false. I denounce any form of violence and terrorism against innocent individuals worldwide. My song "World Wide Love" reflects my stance on this issue among many others. I stand for all people, regardless of race, nationality, or ethnicity, advocating for love and unity.

My commitment lies in upholding truth and justice, opposing the mistreatment of marginalized communities globally. Throughout my career, I have maintained this stance and will continue to do so. We are very sensitive to the historical context of this subject in Europe and My team and I are working hard to reach out and be available to engage in dialog with those involved at a very delicate time.

We remain in dialogue with venues and promoters. With these cancellations my feelings right now are for the fans who have been waiting to see us perform and are so appreciative of the message that we have stood for from the beginning.”

PLEASE NOTE: This statement was sent to the dpa (german press agency) on October 17th, which quoted 3 sentences from it in its communication one day later. The statement is published here in full for the first time!

To sum up, the Concerned Reggae Collective has reached its aim of stopping Kabaka Pyramid from performing in four instances by presenting their evidence wrapped in drastic words, combined with threats of legal actions taken against the venues and a considerable amount of time pressure. However, their accusation that “Kabaka Pyramid went as far as sharing posts containing blood libels and even showing support for internationally recognized terrorist organizations (e.g. Hamas and the Palestinian Islamic Jihad)” goes too far and is not true, as a careful examination of said evidence reveals. If the venues and all other parties involved (organizers, promoters, politicians, press, etc.) had had more time to deal with the accusations, would the cancellations have happened?

It is certainly a good thing that there are organizations such as Artists Against Antisemitism, who are on the watch-out for lyrics or statements that discriminate against ethnic, linguistic, sexual or religious minorities. Hate speech should not be given a platform in any genre or subculture, much less in Reggae music, which celebrates the values of one love, peace and harmony on an international scale. It is however equally important that all parties involved stick to objective facts and refrain from false interpretations that can quickly turn into a witch hunt – discussion and dialogue should be the weapon of choice here. Times are approaching in which content can all too easily be faked with the help of software or artificial intelligence. This makes it all the more important to critically question what is true and what is merely interpretation, to distinguish between assumption and reality.

It remains to be hoped that fans, artists and activists stand united against discrimination, violence, war, and the killing of innocent people anywhere in the world!

We hope that this article helped to shed some light on this situation, and we now leave it to each reader to answer the question from our headline "WELL DONE?!?" for themselves.

We have compiled all relevant links below and sorted them chronologically so that it provides an accurate timeline. If necessary, we recommend using Google Translate

OCTOBER 10, 2024
Appeal sent to venues in Germany by Artists Against Antisemitism & Concerned Reggae Collective

Artists Against Antisemitism: website, Instagram, Facebook, X
Concerned Reggae Collective: no links available!

OCTOBER 13, 2024
"No Stage for Kabaka Pyramid" @ ARTISTSAGAINSTANTISEMITISM.org
Open Letter/Appeal - PDF Download in german & english!

OCTOBER 15, 2024
Innsbruck show cancelled! Offical Statement @ PMK.or.at

OCTOBER 16, 2024
Vienna show cancelled! Statement @ FLUCC.at
IN THE PRESS: NACH ANTISEMITISMUSVORWÜRFEN: VERANSTALTER IN INNSBRUCK UND WIEN SAGEN KONZERTE MIT GRAMMY-GEWINNER AB [DIEPRESSE.com & MSN.com]

OCTOBER 17, 2024
Munich show cancelled! Statement @ Instagram & BACKSTAGE.eu [PDF Download]
IN THE PRESS: KABAKA PYRAMIDS EUROPEAN TOUR HITS SNAG [Jamaica Observer]

OCTOBER 18, 2024
Berlin show cancelled in the late afternoon during the band's soundcheck! No statement available.
Earlier in the day, the dpa (german press agency) had published a report on the concert cancellations that is the basis for all online articles in the German media:
ANTISEMITISMUS-VORWURF: BACKSTAGE SAGT KONZERT VON GRAMMY-GEWINNER AB [Süddeutsche Zeitung & Zeit Online - both articles automatically adopted the dpa report unedited] plus articles @ SPIEGEL | FAZ | WELT | T-ONLINE | TZ | ANTENNE BAYERN

OCTOBER 19, 2024

KONZERTVERANSTALTER SAGEN AUFTRITTE VON KABAKA PYRAMID AB [DEUTSCHLANDFUNK]
ANTISEMITISCHE ÄUSSERUNGEN: DEUTSCHLAND-KONZERT VON GRAMMY-GEWINNER ABGESAGT![HAMBURGER MORGENPOST]
KABAKA PYRAMID: 3 CONCERTI ANNULLATI PER ACCUSE DI ANTISEMITISMO [REGGAEREVOLUTION]

OCTOBER 22, 2024

KABAKA PYRAMID CONCERTS CANCELLED IN AUSTRIA AND GERMANY AMID ANTISEMITISM ALLEGATIONS [WORLDMUSICVIEWS.com]
GRAMMY WINNING REGGAE ARTISTE KABAKA PYRAMID ACCUSED OF BEING ANTI-SEMITIC [JAMAICALIVENEWS.com]

OCTOBER 23, 2024

3 KABAKA PYRAMID CONCERTS CANCELED FOLLOWING ALLEGATIONS OF ANTI-SEMITIC REMARKS [REGGAE-AGENDA.nl]
KABAKA PYRAMID'S EUROPEAN CONCERTS CANCELED AMID ALLEGATIONS OF ANTI-SEMITIC SPEECH [KABOOMMAG.com]
The JAMAICA OBSERVER, which published its article on October 17, posts the story on Instagram & Facebook