Beyoncé, Tottenham Hotspur Stadium, June 1, 2023. Raph_PH, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons.
According to Beyonce, if you like it, you better put a ring on it.
But what if you don’t like it? What if you are her creative director and you don’t like Jews or Zionists?
According to The New York Post, that’s the case for Andrew Makadsi, Beyonce’s creative director, who has come under heavy fire for his comments about Israel.
According to screenshots, he called for “death” to all Zionists, “and their followers.”
Beyonce Knowles, the iconic star who first became famous as part of “Destiny’s Child,” could do a number of things in response to Makadsi’s comments, depending on the nature of her relationship with him. She could act motherly and try to figure out what is wrong with him. When someone is antisemitic, it is a sign of rot within their soul.
In a society where people call Trump Hitler, hyperbole is unfortunately becoming acceptable. But words of hatred should not be. Beyonce knows she is one of the greatest talents in America, and she doesn’t look like she has a mean bone in her body. She should drop him with no severance pay, and take a firm stance on his unacceptable rhetoric.
With the war in Israel possibly escalating, we should expect more online vitriol. Beyonce has a song called “Don’t Hurt Yourself,” but she’s hurt herself by having Makadsi in her employ.
Beyonce is a smart person, and we can hope that she’ll get rid of Makadsi. But it’s not just about one person. There is freedom of speech in America, though one may not incite violence. While this may not meet a legal standard for inciting murder against Jews and Zionists, one has to wonder how someone with this degree of hatred was ever employed by Beyonce in the first place — and how many more like him are out there.
Perhaps Makadsi, who is Lebanese, should make a music video about why Hezbollah should stop shooting rockets at Israel.
To understand the genius of Makadsi’s mind, we can look no further than a quote he gave in an interview in GQ, in which he said, “When you work on something, make sure you are going to be proud.”
With an intellect like that, I’m sure he can tour schools across the world, sharing his words of wisdom.
We should not forget that he must love his home country of Lebanon, and we can understand that his heart must be hurting. But we can’t forget that it is Hezbollah terrorists who have brought pain to Lebanon, dragging the country into violence, and that the people of Lebanon allow Hezbollah to effectively run the country.
Despite this, no Israelis called for the death of every person in Lebanon and all their followers. But that is what Makadsi is calling for against Israelis and all who support them.
Like it or not, we live in a world where celebrity matters and affects what people think.
Beyonce has 317 million Instagram followers. Will all of them be swayed by Makadsi? Of course not, but even if a small number are, it is horrible for Israel — and all people who support human rights.
There is free speech, but there are also consequences for hatred. You don’t need a great doctor to diagnose this disease. And Beyonce knows what the cure is.
The author is a writer based in New York.
The post Will Beyonce Fire Creative Director Who Called for ‘Death’ to All Zionists? first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
