Nation of Islam Leader Louis Farrakhan Loses Twitter Verification for Calling Jews 'Satanic'

Louis Farrakhan, leader of the Nation of Islam, has had his Twitter verification removed after he tweeted a video of an anti-Semitic speech, in which he calls Jews "satanic."

Farrakhan has a long history of controversial statements and has been accused of antisemitism in the past. As far back as 1984, Farrakhan praised Adolf Hitler and said he was "proud" of what the leader of the Nazi Party did to the Jews.

"[T]he Jews don't like Farrakhan, so they call me Hitler. Well, that's a good name. Hitler was a very great man. He wasn't a great man for me as a black person, but he was a great German," Farrakhan said in the interview.

The most recent video was of a speech he gave in late May in which he repeated a string of conspiracy theories, saying that Hollywood is controlled by Jews who force actors to engage in anal sex and claimed that former president Barack Obama was controlled by Jews.

Twitter, however, has strict policies against hate speech, and it removed the blue check mark that the company gives the accounts of verified public figures and celebrities. Twitter also removed the verification of a handful of prominent white supremacists over the past year.

Meanwhile, Farrakhan has been criticized over the years by the Southern Poverty Law Center for spreading hate speech.

"Just as disturbing has been Farrakhan's willingness to tie himself to authoritarian and, in many cases, violently repressive foreign leaders for the sake of furthering black and Islamic administrations worldwide," the center noted. "These include Libyan dictator Muammar Ghadaffi, Zimbabwean leader Robert Mugabe, and the now deceased General Muhammad Zia-ul-Haq of Pakistan and Ugandan despot Idi Amin."

Farrakhan's organization, the Nation of Islam, was also criticized by Martin Luther King, who called it a hate group. Farrakhan's criticism of Obama comes after a 2005 picture of the two men sparked controversy after it surfaced for the first time in January. But Obama and Farrakhan have faced off on a variety of issues, including the former president's support for gay marriage.