A high-ranking official at the Berklee College of Music has been found to have a history of making anti-Semitic and historically inaccurate statements about Jews, alleging their oppression of black people and blaming them for slavery, according to a review by The Washington Free Beacon.
In a grand announcement in September 2024, the Massachusetts-based music institution declared Nicholas Payton as the new chair of their brass department. Berklee, recognized as the world's largest independent contemporary music college, lauded Payton as a "child prodigy" and "a leading voice in American popular music."
Sean K. Skeete, dean of the Professional Performance Division at Berklee, expressed his anticipation for Payton's contributions to the Berklee community, including engaging faculty, supporting students, and developing curriculum. However, the announcement failed to mention some of Payton's less commendable public statements.
Payton has been known to make controversial remarks, as evidenced by a video he posted on Instagram in July 2020. "All these so-called Jews mad, because how dare I make them face the facts of their sordid past and present," he said. He further challenged Jewish people to "expose how Jewish people have exploited us. Apologize for it and atone and do better."
During the height of the Black Lives Matter protests in 2020, Payton's comments became particularly inflammatory. He posted on Instagram, "Amazing how Jews always have a 'negligible' role in every historic horror that theyve been irrefutably associated with it. What an amazing coincidence! ALL the other races contain plenty of monstrous psychopaths, but Jews, magically, are clean as a whistle! INCREDIBLE!" He further warned about their control over a significant portion of the media and entertainment industry, and their oppressive history in the music business.
In another video shared in July, Payton propagated the claim that "Jewish slave dealers operated in every place slavery existed" and featured a speaker condemning the "synagogue of Satan." The speaker in the video shared by Payton continued, "Racial tensions, segregation. It is all part of the synagogue of Satan's plot for Yahweh's people to fight amongst themselves based upon the color of our skin." When Payton faced backlash on social media for sharing the video, he defended his actions, stating, "It's a quote from the Bible. He does not call out every Jew or even every other Jew out. He's speaking on those who claim to be Jews, but are not."
Payton's anti-Semitic sentiments were not limited to the summer of 2020. In 2010, he directed harsh words at the Jewish owner of Preservation Hall in New Orleans, Ben Jaffe. Despite the institution's mission to preserve and celebrate traditional New Orleans jazz music, Payton criticized Jaffe for profiting excessively from the hall's success. He argued that Jaffe's behavior was "endemic of those who have controlled things in the music industry since its inception," as reported by the New York Times in 2022.
Berklee, one of the most prestigious music schools in the country, has seen students like Quincy Jones, Melissa Etheridge, and Howard Shore pass through its doors. However, the cost of tuition and related expenses can reach up to $82,302 per year.
Gideon Dabi, a New York City-based voice teacher and opera singer, expressed his lack of surprise at Payton's history of hateful remarks. "I wish I had something profound to add except that the music worldwhich is usually behind trendsis often a monoculture where anti-Semitism is explained away while other types of hate are swiftly punished," Dabi told the Free Beacon.
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