A Central Park Summerstage concert by R&B singer Kehlani, a vocal critic of Israel, has been canceled following pressure from Mayor Eric Adams’ administration.
The cancellation came just hours after after First Deputy Mayor Randy Mastro sent a letter Monday to City Parks Foundation, the non-profit that manages the long-running outdoor concert series, citing “security concerns about this event,” per the New York Post.
The singer — who made a recent music video containing “Long Live the Intifada” imagery — was set to perform at a “Pride With Kehlani” concert in Central Park on June 26, as part of the city’s broader Pride celebrations throughout the month.
The cancellation comes less than two weeks after the singer’s performance at Cornell University, intended to be part of the school’s end-of-semester “Slope Day” festivities, was canceled following outcry from Jewish students.
“In the days since Kehlani was announced, I have heard grave concerns from our community that many are angry, hurt, and confused that Slope Day would feature a performer who has espoused antisemitic, anti-Israel sentiments in performances, videos, and on social media,” Cornell University President Michael Kotlikoff, who is Jewish, wrote in an email to the school’s community announcing the cancellation.
Following the uproar upstate, the singer insisted she is not antisemitic. “I am being asked and called to clarify and make a statement yet again, for the millionth time, that I am not antisemitic, nor anti-Jew,” said Kehlani in an Instagram video.
“I am anti-genocide. I am anti- the actions of the Israeli government. I am anti- an extermination of an entire people. I’m anti- the bombing of innocent children, men, women. That’s what I’m anti,” she continued.
Pro-Israel stalwart Rep. Ritchie Torres was among the voices calling for the cancellation of the Central Park event. In a letter sent last week to Adams, City Parks Foundation executive director Heather Lubow and LiveNation CEO Michael Rapino, Torres wrote that “Kehlani has a history of hate, marked by rhetoric of ‘Intifada Revolution,’ the ‘dismantling of Israel’ and the ‘eradication of Zionism.'”
He continued that the singer’s “rhetoric flatly contradicts the spirit of Pride Month, which is and must remain a celebration of love and inclusion — not hate and exclusion.”
Mastro’s letter cited “security precautions needed for an event like this in Central Park, and the security demands throughout the City for other Pride events during this same period of time.”
He added: “If the foundation does not promptly take steps to ensure public safety, the city reserves all rights and remedies to the foundation’s license.”
In a statement posted its social media pages on Monday, Summerstage said: “We strongly and emphatically believe in artistic expression of all kind. 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 canceled.”
Torres lauded the cancellation on Twitter. “Antisemitism becomes unacceptable only when we, as a society, have the courage to reject it—clearly, consistently, and without compromise,” he wrote.
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