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- Rapper Noname joined the numerous celebrities speaking out about the Israel-Palestine violence.
- In a tweet posted on Thursday night, she called celebrities out for their silence on social issues.
- Noname said she expected celebrities to provide resources, information, and support online.
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Chicago rapper Noname recently tweeted her thoughts on celebrities making statements, and lack thereof, regarding the ongoing violence between Israel and Palestine.
"If you don't understand settler colonialism, annexation and ethnic cleansing, fine," Noname, whose real name is Fatimah Warner, tweeted on Thursday night. "But understand you are helping the U.S. fund it with your taxes. We give billions to Israel so they can continue to murder. and murder. and murder. Celebs pay the most in taxes and the most quiet."
-🌱 (@noname) May 14, 2021
Warner was referring to the exchanged air attacks between Israel and Hamas, the militant group that controls Gaza. The attacks have killed seven people in Israel and 83 in Gaza.
More than 200 people were also reported to have been injured at a mosque in Jerusalem after Palestinians clashed with Israeli police.
Warner has shared her views on numerous social issues on social media in the past regarding the Black Lives Matter movement, police and prison abolition, and capitalism. Her comments echoed a sentiment that the Black Lives Matter protests in the summer of 2020 asserted, which is that celebrities' followers are expecting them to post information, resources, and support.
"The push for online personalities - influencers and traditional celebrities included - to speak out on social and political issues has become the norm," Insider's Palmer Haasch wrote.
Warner pushed back on the idea that celebrities should stay silent if they aren't knowledgeable on a particular subject in a reply to a tweet: "This thinking is exactly how we end up pressuring celebrities to talk about sh-- they truly have no understanding about," adding, "Are celebrities not allowed to use google or library cards? Y'all make excuses for them when they have the luxury of free time that working-class people do not. Celebrities could literally pay to have someone read to them but they won't. Cause they don't care."
-🌱 (@noname) May 14, 2021
She continued in a follow-up tweet, "We look to [celebrities] for entertainment, escape, trends, aspiration, etc. Some celebs have the attention of hundreds of millions of [people]. They influence society. [People] will watch a celeb IG before the news. Them speaking up matters."
-🌱 (@noname) May 14, 2021
In a since-deleted tweet, Noname similarly called out celebrities' collective silence in the wake of George Floyd's murder in May 2020.
"Poor black folks all over the country are putting their bodies on the line in protest for our collective safety and y'all favorite top-selling rappers not even willing to put a tweet up," she said.
Noname did not immediately respond to Insider's request for additional comment.