LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA: Alicia Keys found herself in the middle of a new controversy after Megyn Kelly and anti-Semitism advocacy claimed that she was using coded messages in her social media post to signal her support for Hamas amid its ongoing war with Israel.
The 42-year-old singer, whose real name is Alicia Augello Cook, came under scrutiny after taking her Instagram to share a photo of herself donning a green leather racing jacket with black and white highlights.
The “Empire State of Mind” hitmaker captioned the post with “Question: What would u do if you weren't afraid of anything??? Tell me your truth... I've had my eyes on paragliding,” adding two sets of emojis of eyes.
She soon deleted the post but it already caught the attention of the advocacy group StopAntisemitism, which questioned if Keys was making a subtle reference to the Hamas militants, who descended onto Israeli communities with parachutes and gliders, killing hundreds of people and took civilian hostages.
“In a now-deleted tweet, Alicia Keys shares an IG post about trying paragliding if she wasn't afraid,” a tweet from StopAntisemitism read.
“Is this some sick ode to the Hamas terrorists that infiltrated Israel, killed over 1300 people, beheaded babies, raped women, and kidnapped Holocaust survivors @aliciakeys?” it continued.
Internet explode after Alicia Keys’ post
Key’s post soon garnered immense social media attention, with users slamming her for an alleged ‘paraglider’ reference in the caption.
“My God how is this not EVERYWHERE right now?? ALICIA KEYS can post THIS and it gets ignored?? No explanation? HELL NO,” Megyn Kelly tweeted.
“1000 Jews slaughtered after terrorists had swooped down on paragliders, and she's okay with that. I wonder if she sent them money like Joe Biden did?” one user wrote.
“She’s full of Hate and Antisemitism. Horror of a human being,” a second user said while the third asserted “Holy Jesus. I can't digest everything that I'm seeing.”
“Alicia Keys. Suggestion. Go to Israel and find out how much fun it will be,” a fourth user stated. “Omg! What a sick and evil person!!! I’ll never listen to another song of hers!!!” another one said.
“Some people really do not deserve the wealth and fame they have,” one more wrote.
Alicia Keys denies all allegations
On Monday, October 16, the Singer responded to the controversy in an Instagram Stories post, denying any connection between the paragliding post and the ongoing Middle Eastern conflict.
“The post I shared earlier was COMPLETELY unrelated to the recent devastating loss of innocent lives,” she said, adding “My heart has been breaking ... I pray and stand for peace.”
Famed music manager Guy Oseary, who was born in Israel, also shared a post to defend Keys. “There's talk of an antisemitic post that my dear friend Alicia Keys had up on her Instagram. I can confirm to anyone in my [Star of David emoji] community that needs to hear it: it's NOT true,” he said.
He continued, in reference to the use of the word paragliding, "There was a specific word in her post that our community at this very painful time find very triggering, but it was absolutely not connected in any way."
“I spoke to Alicia and she was horrified to learn what the word implied and immediately took it down. Alicia has always been a fighter for all human rights,” he added.
