GOP gubernatorial candidate Bruce Blakeman said a Brooklyn theater should cancel a scheduled performance of an Uzbek singer over a reported anti-Israel and anti-Jewish rant.
Blakeman, the Republican Party’s pick to challenge Gov. Kathy Hochul in November, called it an outrage that 62-year-old singer Yulduz Usmonova would be allowed to perform at the Oceana Theater in Brighton Beach on May 9.
“There is no place for hate speech or hate singing, for that matter, here in Brooklyn or anywhere in New York State or America,” Blakeman said outside the venue at a press conference with local state lawmakers.
“This woman is singing and she is performing, but she is a vile person,” said Blakeman, who is currently serving as Nassau County executive. “She is a person filled with hate. She is riddled with antisemitism. There is no place for her to perform here in Brooklyn.”
Usmonova first sparked outrage in a social media post on May 13, 2021, when she went on a rant attacking the Jewish State and pledging support for Palestine.
“Let Israelis and other Jews know: We will not leave the Palestinians alone,” she wrote. “At a single call, we will all go to help Palestine and fight alongside them against Israel.
“Know this, all who are against Muslims will burn in fire. Know that we will unite,” Usmonova said. “We are with you, dear Palestine. May the almighty rain all misfortunes upon your heads, Jews!”
The comments backfired — her 2024 performance at the Oceana Theater was cancelled after protests over her controversial stance, according to Uzbekistan’s Qalampir news outlet.
In recent interview, Usmonova tried to walk back her extremist statements.
“I realize that things turned out badly with respect to the Jews and, overall, with respect to Israel,” she said. “I”m reminded of a verse from the Surah ‘Isra’ [in the Qaran], which says, ‘If you hate some people, then you yourself are acting wrongly by continuing to hate them.’
“At a moment like this, you start asking yourself, ‘Who is right?’ And it would have been worth asking. At the time, I even considered myself right.”
She later admitted, “I feel uneasy. That is the feeling tormenting me now.”
However, for Blakeman and the state reps who joined him outside the Oceana Theater on Monday, the recent comments don’t erase the harm the singer has done.
“We’re standing here in Brighton Beach, in the heart of one of the largest Jewish communities in the world, because something deeply disturbing and wrong is about to take place, and it demands a clear and immediate response,” state Assemblyman Michael Novakhov (R-Brooklyn) told reporters.
“This is about drawing the line,” he said. “We will not allow our neighborhoods to become a cesspool for antisemitism. We will not allow antisemitism to be normalized, and we will not stay silent when our community is targeted.”
Assemblyman Alec Brook-Krasny (R-Brooklyn), a Russian-Jewish immigrant, slammed the controversial singer as a poor representative of the city’s Uzbek-American community.
“Ms. Usmanova, stick to entertaining people and stop your attacks against the Jewish American community while pretending to be a voice of the Uzbek community,” Brook-Krasny said.
The Oceana Theater and reps for Usmonova did not immediately respond to requests for comment.