Alicia Keys slammed for ‘sick ode to Hamas terror attacks on Israel’

• Keys, 42, wore black jacket with white and green highlights in post in which she made reference to paragliding; she later deleted the post
• An advocacy group suggested it was possible she was signaling her support for Hamas amid its ongoing war with Israel 
• Grammy-winner denied any connection between her post and the war 
• She said: ‘My heart has been breaking … I pray and stand for peace’ 

Alicia Keys was accused of making a ‘sick ode to Hamas terror attacks on Israel’ by an anti-Semitism advocacy group after asking fans if she should take up paragliding on Instagram. 

The singer, 42, whose music producer husband Swiss Beatz (real name Kasseem Dean) is Muslim, quickly deleted the post and responded to the controversy on Monday evening where she said it was ‘COMPLETELY unrelated’ to the brutal war.

Alicia was accused of using a coded messages to signal her support for Hamas after she uploaded a photo to her 27.1million followers in a green leather racing jacket with black and white highlights, in colors some said were reminiscent of the black, white, green and red seen on Palestine‘s flag. 

She captioned the post: ‘Question: What would u do if you weren’t afraid of anything??? Tell me your truth… I’ve had my eyes on paragliding,’ (sic) and added two sets of emojis of eyes.

StopAntisemitism accused her of making a subtle reference to the paraglides Hamas used in its October 7 attack on Israel. 

The advocacy group reshared the now deleted post on X – formerly known as Twitter – and wrote: ‘In a now deleted tweet, Alicia Keys shares an IG post about trying paragliding if she wasn’t afraid’.

‘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?’

The music artist quickly deleted her photo, with friends saying she was ‘horrified’ for the how her post was interpreted. 

Alicia responded to the controversy on Monday evening in an Instagram Stories and denied any connection between the paragliding post and commentary on current events.

‘The post I shared earlier was COMPLETELY unrelated to the recent devastating loss of innocent lives,’ she said. ‘My heart has been breaking… I pray and stand for peace.’

Famed music manager Guy Oseary, who was born in Israel, took to Instagram to defend the singer’s character.

‘There’s talk of an anti-Semitic post that my dear friend Alicia Keys had up on her instagram,’ Oseary wrote. ‘I can confirm to anyone in my [Star of David emoji] community that needs to hear it: it’s NOT true.’

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.’

Oseary added, ‘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.

‘I’ve had a front row seat for over a decade of seeing her positive influence in the world. Her humanitarian work reflects her empathy and her heart.’

Podcaster Sara Foster expressed skepticism in Oseary’s defense of Keys, writing, ‘Crazy. What a coincidence.’ 

Comedian Elon Gold responded to Oseary: ‘She needs to prove it herself. She needs to speak up against Hamas after appearing to be winking at them. I’m sure her heart is good. But she can’t be silent after this slaughter, mass rape, baby beheadings….’ 

Podcaster Jordana Horn Gordon responded to Oseary that Keys ‘should put up a post correcting’ the initial post, adding, ‘it came across very, very differently from what you’re saying.’

Horn Gordon added, ‘Respectfully: Just deleting in the era of screenshots isn’t an apology, nor is having a Jewish friend step forward on your behalf.’

In response to the post from StopAntisemitism, some users believed Keys had intended to signal her support in the efforts against Israel with the combination of words and images in her initial post.

One user said: ‘The … the colors of her jackets. Too many coincidences to be a coincidence.

Another said: ‘Look at the colors she’s wearing, the reference to paragliding, even with the eyeball emoji… she knew EXACTLY what she was doing.’

One user said of her outfit: I see people saying this is a stretch, let Alicia be the one to respond. But this account @StopAntisemites pointed out her outfit. Colors have meaning, last [Thursday] I wore blue and white for a reason. Sometimes people choose outfits to send [subtle] messages. Let us wait.’

Other users said the advocacy group was reaching in its suggestion that Keys was subtly signaling support for the Hamas attacks on Israel, which commenced October 7.

‘Take this down, its not wrong to use the word paragliding,’ one user said, while another said that while they supported StopAntisemitism and its efforts, ‘This is going a little too far.’

Another user pointed out the unstated geographic elements, noting that Keys’ Southern California home is adjacent to the Torrey Pines Gliderport, a hub of recreational paragliding.

‘To be fair, her house in San Diego is by the gliderport in La Jolla (it’s public knowledge), and she sees the paragliders every day,’ the user said. ‘She MIGHT not be referring to Hamas.’

Keys’ post came on the 10th day of the conflict between Hamas and Israel, in which more than 4,000 people have died, with more than a million people leaving their homes in the Gaza Strip.