Surprise: The Dutch Rapper Who Used ‘Anne Frank’ As Her Stage Name Is Anti-Semitic
Image by Wikimedia
AMSTERDAM (JTA) — The Dutch rapper who went by the stage name ‘Anne Frank’ said Wednesday that she will change the name following an outcry and the revelation of past anti-Semitic statements.
The 25-year-old performer, whose real name may be Anne van der Does, according to the GeenStijl website, said she was shortening her stage name to Anne.
She had been criticized for using the name — she said it was a tribute to the Holocaust teen diarist’s name — in her debut single released last week. Titled “Silence,” the song features references to sex and drugs.
Media reports about the single prompted the Center for Information and Documentation on Israel, a watchdog group on anti-Semitism, to reveal that the rapper has a history of writing anti-Semitic statements on Twitter as well as some expressions of sympathy for Jews.
Dutch rapper drops Anne Frank stage name following outcry #Netherlands #propaganda https://t.co/u3q7NSSE2j pic.twitter.com/DRLZDjYwde
— CFCA – Coordination Forum Countering Antisemitism (@cfcantisemitism) June 27, 2019
Her manager, the well-known rapper Lange Frans, included her single on her new album. She said she wasn’t aware of the anti-Semitic tweets by her 25-year-old protege.
“I’ve known her for a while and there are many sides to her. I believe in her,” Frans said, also saying that Anne would like to convey that “she never meant to hurt anyone.”
In March 2018, Anne wrote: “If Taylor Swift were Jewish, I’d gas her personally.”
This year she wrote: “Anne Frank died of typhus so she was never murdered.” Hitting back at criticism over her former stage name, she wrote in January, “I hear nothing from you about what the Jews in 2019 are doing in Palestine.”
The post Dutch rapper drops Anne Frank stage name following outcry over anti-Semitism appeared first on Jewish Telegraphic Agency.
A message from our Publisher & CEO Rachel Fishman Feddersen
I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s award-winning, nonprofit journalism during this critical time.
We’ve set a goal to raise $260,000 by December 31. That’s an ambitious goal, but one that will give us the resources we need to invest in the high quality news, opinion, analysis and cultural coverage that isn’t available anywhere else.
If you feel inspired to make an impact, now is the time to give something back. Join us as a member at your most generous level.
— Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO
