The kicker: He said this while speaking in Israel.
Simmons has already held two $35,800 per person fundraisers for Obama at his NYC residence and attended several others.
Hip hop mogul and major Obama campaign donor Russell Simmons was scolded by the Anti-Defamation League this afternoon after he made “excuses for the polarizing anti-Semitic and racist speech of Louis Farrakhan.”
Simmons, who was speaking at a forum in Israel, alleged that ADL leader Abraham Foxman was “alienating blacks,” and compared his speech to Farrakhan’s divisive rhetoric.
Foxman slammed Simmons for the comparison and for leaping to defend Farrakhan from criticism in multiple interviews over the years.
“Shame on Simmons,” Foxman declared in a statement.
“We’ve heard this kind of doublespeak before, so it is not surprising to hear Russell Simmons once again making excuses for the polarizing anti-Semitic and racist speech of Louis Farrakhan,” Foxman said in a statement. “He’s been doing that for years.”