The rapper and film actor Ice Cube has been getting a chilly reception for sharing on Twitter an anti-Semitic image amid the backlash over the death of 46-year-old African-American George Floyd.
As part of expressing support for the Black Lives Matter movement, Ice Cube (whose real name is O’Shea Jackson) posted the caricature of a group of white-skinned older men, some with large hooked noses, sitting around a Monopoly-like game board with a fully-bearded man counting dollar bills. The board is on top of bowed, naked backs of a group of mostly black men.
Captioned above the image is “All we have to do is stand up and their little game is over.”
Ice Cube, 50, captioned the image “F*** THE NEW NORMAL UNTIL THEY FIX THE OLD NORMAL!”
The image first appeared in mural form in London, igniting controversy in 2018 following then-British Labour Party leader Jeremy Corbyn expressing support for the artist Mear One (Kalen Ockerman). Corbyn later apologized, and the image was removed.
The caricature is identical to “anti-Semitic propaganda used by Hitler and the Nazis to whip up hatred that led to the massacre of millions of Jews. This extends to the table these figures are sat at, resting on human bodies, as the Nazis also depicted,” according to journalist and filmmaker Michael Segalov.
“Goddammit Ice Cube. What a disservice to all those fighting for justice who *don’t* feel compelled to wallow in antisemitic propaganda,” tweeted Washington Examiner magazine executive editor Seth Mandel.
“I guess cancel culture doesn’t care about antisemitism #icecubeantisemiticaf,” tweeted filmmaker Ami Horowitz.
The post received a solid number of negative comments in reaction to the image, expressing everything from disappointment to downright anger.