Rami Even-Esh, an Israeli-American rapper known as “Kosha Dillz,” said he was assaulted and briefly arrested on March 6 after confronting participants at a vigil in New York City honoring the slain Iranian Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, though still managed to narrate a Purim play later that evening.
The vigil, held near the arch in Washington Square Park in Manhattan, was billed as a “Vigil and Community Iftar for Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and all those killed at the hands of Amerikan pigs.” Khamenei was killed in a joint U.S.-Israeli airstrike on Feb. 28.
The gathering drew both supporters of the Iranian regime and counterprotesters and eventually devolved into clashes that led to multiple detentions, according to reports and police statements.
Even-Esh, 44, told JNS that he “wanted to see what all the fuss was about,” so he stopped by the gathering shortly before a previously scheduled performance at a Purim event called “Esther’s Mix” at Ideal Glass Studios.
The rapper said he initially thought the vigil might resemble a publicity stunt or satirical event. Instead, he said he encountered a memorial display that included images of Khamenei and other political figures.
“There was a George Floyd thing there, and there was nothing about the Iranian children that were killed in the airstrike, which I thought was really disrespectful,” he told JNS. “I thought, at least with that there, it would have some sort of levity for Iran. But there were no Iranians there either. It was just complete chaos.”
He told JNS he saw a sign for Khamenei. Video circulating online shows Even-Esh lifting the poster of the slain Iranian leader and saying, “Take this down.” Moments later, several people rush him and begin punching and kicking him. Footage shows one man striking him in the face before police intervene.
“And then, next thing, I was arrested,” Even-Esh said.
“Everyone was like, why didn’t you fight back?” he told JNS. “My main goal was I needed to make it to my show. I was responsible for the entire play. I was the narrator of the entire thing.”
Even-Esh said he found himself in jail “begging” to be released so he could make it on time. Despite wounds to his face that would later require stitches, he told JNS he made it—late—to the Purim performance.
He declined to discuss his legal case in detail because it is pending.
The rapper, who previously documented protest culture in a film project titled “Bring the Family Home,” said the experience reinforced his view that demonstrations in New York have become increasingly performative.
“Just like kids have become addicted to TikTok, our society has become addicted to these protests,” Even-Esh said, comparing protests to people playing Dungeons and Dragons or going to Renaissance Fairs. “Occasionally, people bring real swords to these things. And there’s always one person that goes a little bit too far because they’re trying to one-up the other person.”
“It’s a bunch of idiots in the park,” he said. “But I’m one of those idiots. I’m no different. I could have just left, and it would have got on, and everything would have been just fine.
Even-Esh told JNS that, while the vigil appeared to draw dozens of people, there were “way more counter-protesters.”
“New York is a beautiful place where most people just get along,” he said. “People are bored, and they want to pretend there’s a lot more chaos than there is.”
