Bakari Sellers Denounces Cornel West as an ‘Anti-Semite’ for Saying He’s Tied to ‘Very Right-Wing Jewish Lobbyists’

Bakari Sellers denounced Cornel West this week as an anti-Semite for accusing the CNN commentator of being tied to “very right-wing Jewish lobbyists.”

The comment from West regarding “very right-wing Jewish lobbyists” is reminiscent of the anti-Semitic conspiracy theory that the Jews control the government.

West – who, along with Sellers, campaigned for progressive candidate Nina Turner, a critic of Israel, ahead of the August Democratic primary in the special election in Ohio’s 11th Congressional District – told activist Tim Black in an Aug. 6 interview after the election, which Turner lost, that Sellers “has been so tied to very, very right-wing Jewish lobbyists in terms of money and status and so forth.”

In response to West, Sellers told Jewish Insider on Monday:

I don’t have shit to say about Cornel West. If Cornel West runs for office I won’t be there standing by him. To be honest with you, I’m a child of the civil rights movement, and I’m also very, very, very pro-Israel. I think you know that. I think everybody acknowledges that. You know, I don’t have a lot of respect for individuals who — I didn’t see the clip; I heard about it — but we were there for a singular purpose. I was there because I love Nina, and I don’t want to dignify Cornel. You know, at one point, Cornel utilized anti-Semitism as political currency a lot like [former President] Donald Trump used racism. Now, it’s pretty fair to say that Cornel West is an anti-Semite just like Donald Trump is a racist.

In an interview with The Atlantic published on Friday, West bashed Sellers for saying that West “utilized anti-Semitism” similar to Trump “[using] racism.”

“That’s a cowardly lie of a desperate opportunist,” said West.