A video posted on Nation of Islam leader Louis Farrakhan’s Facebook page, in which the controversial black nationalist compared Jews to “termites,” was taken down on Thursday by the social-media platform.
Facebook told TheWrap that Farrakhan’s comments were in blatant violation of its hate-speech policies.
“To the members of the Jewish community that don’t like me, thank you very much for putting my name all over the planet because of your fear of what we represent,” Farrakhan says in the video.
“I can go anywhere in the world. I’m not mad at you because you’re so stupid. So when they talk about Farrakhan, call me a hater—you know what they do—call me an anti-Semite, stop it! I’m anti-termite! I don’t know nothing about hating somebody because of their religious preference,” Farrakhan says, to applause and laughter.
The video was of a speech Farrakhan gave in Detroit earlier this month to mark the 23rd anniversary of the Million Man March, his famous rally in Washington, D.C.
Farrakhan has a long history of making comments that are perceived as anti-Semitic, and has suggested that “powerful Jews” were responsible for the 9/11 terrorist attacks.
The Anti-Defamation League has called Farrakhan “the leading anti-Semite in America.”
Facebook told The Wrap on Thursday that the video “amounts to Tier 1 hate speech,” which, according to its community standards, includes dehumanizing speech and making comparisons to animals.
The company also decided to place a strike on Farrakhan’s account, as a warning.
