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Kehlani makes anti-Israel statement on AMAs 2025 red carpet weeks after Central Park concert was canceled

Kehlani makes anti-Israel statement on AMAs 2025 red carpet weeks after Central Park concert was canceled

New York Post4 days ago

Anti-Israel singer Kehlani has doubled down on her controversial comments on the Israel-Palestine conflict just weeks after New York City pulled the plug on her Central Park concert.
The 5-time Grammy nominee, who walked the red carpet at the 2025 American Music Awards Monday night, didn't mince words when asked about her stance on the ongoing clash.
'It shouldn't be a hard thing, it shouldn't be something I'm even looked at so massively for, it shouldn't be something I'm credited for,' the 'After Hours' singer, 30, told Variety ahead of the awards show.
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5 Anti-Israel singer Kehlani has doubled down on her controversial comments on the Israel-Palestine conflict.
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'It should be second nature if people are blowing up and being murdered at mass rates, it should be no — it should be as easy as breathing to say, 'Hey I don't really think this should be happening, this shouldn't be happening, maybe we should stop.''
'We're funding it so we should stop,' the singer, born Kehlani Ashley Parrish, said in Las Vegas, referring to the US' support for Israel.
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When asked if celebrities should be vocal about their stance on the issue, the 'Can I?' singer said, 'Yeah, I said it a bunch.'
'I definitely think we have more power than we think and everything's stronger in numbers, and I think that that's something that hopefully people will understand at some point,' she went on.
'But all I can say is free Palestine.'
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Earlier this month, The Post revealed that NYC officials scrapped Kehlani's upcoming Central Park performance after mounting pressure from City Hall.
5 The 5-time Grammy nominee walked the red carpet at the 2025 American Music Awards Monday night.
Penske Media via Getty Images
5 Musician Kehlani stands in front of a Palestinian flag in a music video.
Kehiani/Youtube
'We strongly and emphatically believe in artistic expression of all kinds,' the City Park's Foundation, a taxpayer-funded organization, said in a statement on Instagram.
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'However, the safety and security of our guests and artists is of the utmost importance and in light of these concerns, the concert has been cancelled.'
The news appeared to get to the singer last, as she revealed on her Instagram Story that she found out of the show's cancellation through social media.
'Lol,' she began. 'I just found that one out on Instagram by the way.'
5 New York City earlier this month cancelled Kehlani's scheduled concert in Central Park.
5 The Post's cover on the outrage over Kehlani's planned concert at Cornell.
'I'm so deeply grounded in my purpose, my mission, my art, my contribution. Back to this album,' she added.
Weeks prior, Cornell University also pulled the plug on Kehlani's campus performance after facing overwhelming backlash over the decision to host her.

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How actress Gal Gadot became a lightning rod for anti-Israel hate
How actress Gal Gadot became a lightning rod for anti-Israel hate

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How actress Gal Gadot became a lightning rod for anti-Israel hate

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But as pro-Palestinian protestors continue to target the very visible Gadot, is her Hollywood dream turning into a nightmare? Disney's dismal live-action version of Snow White, released in March, might have been a box office bomb anyway, but the surrounding political firestorm certainly didn't help its chances. In the PR circus in the run-up to the film's release, all of the focus was on the opposing views of its two stars and their reported rift. Rachel Zegler, playing the titular princess, drew criticism after she posted the movie's trailer online with the comment 'And always remember, free Palestine' – as did Gadot, for her support of Israel. Gadot was born in Petah Tikva to Jewish parents of European descent. Her mother, Irit, is the daughter of Holocaust survivors and, at the age of 11, Gadot was taken to visit Holocaust sites in Poland. Many of the activists now seeking to cancel the actress call her a 'soldier', citing her time in the Israel Defence Forces (IDF). However, Gadot didn't choose to become a soldier: service in the IDF is compulsory. She was conscripted into the army aged 20, and spent much of her mandatory two years of service working as a combat trainer, teaching fitness. She also learned martial arts techniques such as Krav Maga. Speaking to Canadian magazine Fashion in 2016, Gadot said: 'There is something special in giving back to your community.' When the statuesque Gadot burst onto cinema screens as the new Wonder Woman in 2017, both reviewers and fans admired that military-honed strength and athleticism. The fact that she is a real-life ass-kicking woman with muscular limbs lent authenticity to this empowering female superhero. How times have changed: now that same history is held against her. Conversely, Gadot has also been criticised by her countrymen for her relatively measured statements. In 2019, responding to president Benjamin Netanyahu's assertion that Israel is 'not a state of all its citizens', Gadot wrote a now-deleted post on Instagram striking a very different tone. 'Love thy neighbor,' she said. 'It is not a matter of right or left, Arabs or Jews, secular or religious. It is a matter of […] dialogue for peace, and of our tolerance for each other.' In 2021, during the Israel-Palestine crisis, Netanyahu's son Yair unfavourably compared Gadot's public statements with what he termed the 'antisemitic propaganda' coming from models Gigi and Bella Hadid, who are of Palestinian descent. Yair complained on Twitter that the only comparable high-profile Israeli celebrity, Gadot, had chosen to 'write a neutral post [on Instagram] as if she was from Switzerland'. But Gadot has been more vocal and more partisan since the horrific terrorist attack on her home country in October 2023. She posted the names of the 80 Israeli hostages on her social media along with hashtags like #BringThemBack and #ReleaseTheHostages. Speaking to Variety in March, she explained: 'When people were abducted from their homes, from their beds, men, women, children, elderly, Holocaust survivors […] I could not be silent. I was shocked by the amount of hate.' She concluded: 'I had to speak up.' Yet Gadot, who is a mother of four, added a clarification: 'I am praying for better days for all. I want everybody to have good life and prosperity, and the ability to raise their children in a safe environment.' That month she also made an impassioned speech at the Anti-Defamation League's Never Is Now event. 'None of us can ignore the explosion of Jew-hatred around the world any more,' said Gadot. 'My name is Gal, and I'm Jewish, and we have had enough of Jew-hatred.' 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