John Mellencamp says “F Antisemitism” in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame

To great applause, John Mellencamp took the stage at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame to introduce attorney Allen Grubman and took the opportunity to denounce anti-Semitism and implore his fellow artists to “speak out against all forms of bigotry and hatred.”

Grubman, Mellencamp’s longtime attorney, was inducted into the Hall of Fame with the Ahmet Ertegun Award in recognition of his decades of work in the music business. Mellencamp has been a customer since 1982.

Mellencamp described himself as a “gentile” who took to heart hateful rhetoric aimed at the Jewish people after remarks by Kanye West, now called Ye. While Mellencamp didn’t name the rapper, it was clear that his anger was directed at the anti-Semitic tropes he was peddling.

Mellencamp said: “Guys, I can’t tell you how freaking important it is to express yourself as an artist. Whenever you hear hate speech or something derogatory about someone else… We are all human. I don’t give a fuck if you’re Jewish, black, calm down, tutti frutti tuttie fruttie, I don’t care! Here’s the trick: silence is complicity. … I stand here tonight loud and proud and in solidarity with Allen, his family, all my Jewish friends and the entire Jewish people of the world. Fuck anti-Semitism and fuck anyone who says such a thing.”

Grubman, whom Mellencamp called a “real mentch,” later revealed to reporters that he wasn’t privy to the speech in advance. “I had no idea what he was going to say; he wanted to keep it a secret,” Grubman said, adding that the Rock Hall had requested a copy of the notes written for the night to be displayed at the museum.