When we first reported on the Lorde/Israel controversy las week, we noted how, on paper, the idea of Lorde being at the centre of an international controversy seemed laughable at best. Now, the controversy has heated up once again, with a full-page ad in a US newspaper labelling the Kiwi pop singer a “bigot”.

Last Tuesday, we noted how Lorde had cancelled her show in Tel Aviv, Israel in June of this year. This cancellation followed an open letter campaign in which the singer was asked to reconsider her upcoming tour.

“I pride myself on being an informed young citizen,” Lorde wrote in a statement at the time. “And I have done a lot of reading and sought a lot of opinions before deciding to book a show in Tel Aviv, but I’m not proud to admit I didn’t make the right call on this one.”

After this cancellation, Israel’s ambassador to New Zealand shared a public appeal for Lorde to meet with him in order to discuss a possible compromise.

“It is regrettable that you have cancelled your concert in Tel Aviv and have disappointed all your fans in Israel,” the ambassador said. “Music is a wonderful language of tolerance and friendship, which brings people together.”

While Lorde did not comment on this statement, it would make sense that once she met with the ambassador, the problem would be all over, right? Well, not quite.

As the ABC reports, a full-page ad has been taken out in the Washington Post by rabbi Shmuley Boteach to criticise Lorde’s recent actions.

Headlined “Lorde and New Zealand ignore Syria to attack Israel,” the ad labels the Kiwi singer a “bigot” for her recent cancellation, and criticises both her and New Zealand for their ‘racist actions’.

“Tragically, New Zealand’s growing prejudice against the Jewish State seems to be trickling down to its youth,” it said. “Let’s boycott the boycotters and tell Lorde and her fellow bigots that Jew-hatred has no place in the twenty-first century.”

The ABC also noted that in the wake of the cancellation of the Israel concert, a GoFundMe page was launched by The World Values Network, who managed to raise more than US$26,000. Rabbi Shmuley Boteach, who is behind the full-page ad, is named as an Executive Director of The World Values Network, who have been very vocal about the singer’s previous touring choices.

“While Lorde claims to be concerned with human rights, she hypocritically chose to proceed with her two concerts in Putin’s Russia,” they stated. “Despite his support for Assad’s genocidal regime which has already claimed the lives of over 500,000 innocents.”

While Lorde is yet to respond to the campaign, Juliet Moses, a spokesperson for the Jewish Council, stated that the ad is unlikely to have any real effect.

“We think it’s inflammatory,” she noted. “We think it’s unnecessary to accuse Lorde of being bigot, and we think it essentially promotes intransigence on both sides of the issue.”

Check out Lorde’s ‘Green Light’:

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