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Harry Belafonte’s Greatest Hits

Singer who compared Kochs to KKK has history of offensive remarks

November 4, 2013

Renowned Caribbean-pop singer Harry Belafonte on Sunday compared libertarian philanthropists Charles and David Koch to the Ku Klux Klan (KKK).

Belafonte, speaking at a campaign event for New York City mayoral hopeful Bill de Blasio, said the Kochs are "white supremacists" and "men of evil" who "are flooding our country with money."

It was not clear from his remarks why he felt flooding the country with money is evil. The Kochs are not, in fact, white supremacists.

De Blasio, who is expected to be elected mayor on Tuesday, made no effort to correct Belafonte’s claims, instead praising him as "a voice of a wisdom" and "a treasure to our nation."

He also said Belafonte "hasn’t changed one bit," and that much is true. The singer has a long history of vicious rhetoric against conservatives, some of which has drawn condemnations even from liberal voices.

Some of his "greatest hits":

Colin Powell is like a house slave

Colin_powell_(official_portrait)

"There's an old saying in the days of slavery. There are those slaves who lived on the plantation, and there were those slaves who lived in the house. You got the privilege of living in the house if you served the master. Colin Powell was permitted to come into the house of the master."

George W. Bush is a terrorist and Venezuelan socialism is awesome

Venezuela Election Hinterlands

"No matter what the greatest tyrant in the world, the greatest terrorist in the world, George W. Bush says, we’re here to tell you: Not hundreds, not thousands, but millions of the American people ... support [Venezuela’s] revolution."

President Obama should throw political opponents in jail

Barack Obama

"What fascinates me is … there should be this lingering infestation of really corrupt people who sit trying to dismantle the wishes of the people, the mandate that has been given to Barack Obama. I don’t know what they want. The only thing left for Barack Obama to do is to work like a third world dictator and just put all these guys in jail."

Herman Cain is an unintelligent "bad apple"

Herman_Cain_at_Hannity_-_Boortz_event-1a

"It’s very hard to comment on somebody who is so denied intelligence – and certainly who is denied a view of history, such as he reveals. He knows very little… So we have Condoleezza Rice, we’ve got Colin Powell – they’re heroes for some people. But for a lot us, they’re not. And Herman Cain is the latest incarnation of what is totally false to the needs of our community, and the needs of our nation. I think he’s a bad apple, and people should look at his hole card. He’s not what he says he is."

Published under: Bill de Blasio