Does anyone know where you can find the text of Stephen Colbert’s poem that Sam Waterson read? I missed part of it and would like to read it…
Has Yusuf ever renounced his support of the fatwa against Rushdie?
I love the Roots, but John Legend is pretty generic pop music.
He never supported the fatwa against Rushdie. That was misreported.
While he’s not exactly mainstream I was surprised that superliberal Keith Olbermann is among its early high profile critics.
Yeah, it does sting when you’re told you’re as much part of the problem as the other guys.
It shouldn’t have been a surprise to Olbermann, though; he’s been nailed by Jon in the past for overblown outrage. He even owned up to it when called on it.
Thank you! Man, my google-fu is weak. I looked for it last night, but could not find it…
I didn’t know that. Thanks.
Had to campaign. Missed it. 
A quick search provided me no evidence that Yusafs’ comments were misinterpreted.
This column reprints a 2007 letter from Salmon Rushdie saying:
*However much Cat Stevens/Yusuf Islam may wish to rewrite his past, he was neither misunderstood nor misquoted over his views on the Khomeini fatwa against The Satanic Verses
*
Here’s a Wikipedia article that provides (presumably) accurate quotes from Yusaf. He later called his initial remarks “stupid and offensive jokes.”
I’m no expert on this, but I don’t think of Cat Stevens as a guy who casually tosses off stupid and offensive jokes, so I side with Rushdie. And “stupid and offensive” really doesn’t adequately denounce comments that could encourage someone to kill an author.
This.
While Maddow and ODonnell praised his speech.
But he sounded awesome.
None of this contradicts me. He did not support the fatwa. That is a fact. He made some stupid remarks about Rushdie deserving to be executed, but that’s not the same as supporting the fatwa (the order to seek him out and excute him extra-legally).
I’m a Stewart fan, an anti-Tea Partier, and a fan of Cat Stevens’ music (Yusuf not so much except when he’s singing Cat Stevens songs, or Yusuf songs based on Cat songs), but in the spirit of reason I will say Yusuf Islam’s comments during the Rushdie controversy were unreasonable, intolerant, and indefensible to anybody who believes in intellectual freedom or peaceful expression. It was a WTF? moment for me when he appeared.
I am guessing that Stewart, whose worst enemies couldn’t call him a fool or even a flaming liberal with a straight face and who in addition to that is Jewish- had a definite point in specifically choosing Yusuf Islam as a guest. Yusuf couldn’t have been cheap to bring over (even if he donated his time I’m guessing he doesn’t travel light and that security’s an issue) and certainly Stewart could have chosen from any number of music legends, and there’s not the remotest chance Stewart (one of the few interviewers to not only bring on authors but also read their books first) didn’t know of the Rushdie controversy. I am guessing Stewart will specifically speak to the issue of Yusuf’s inclusion very soon.
It may have to do with the fact that Yusuf Islam has moderated his views a bit since 9-11. As I mentioned earlier in this or one of the other threads that he was one of the few high profile Muslims to categorically condemn 9-11.
While he’s still a devout Muslim he does denounce terrorism. In recent years he has spent a lot of his time and money (he’s bloody rich from his Cat-alogue- the Apple use of “If You Wanna Sing Out” probably brought him more than most of us see in several years) in bringing peace between Muslim and non-Muslim youth, including several recordings for children of all faiths. Perhaps he’s going to be a guest on the show soon.
Here’s a 2008 recording called Boots and Sandwritten and sung by Yusuf along with Dolly Parton (they apparently became friends when she recorded Peace Train- he was actually enroute to see her when he was denied entry to the U.S.), Allison Krauss and Paul McCartney.
So it would be accurate to say that while Yusuf Islam may have been on the Crazy Train for a short time, he’s now comfortably seated on the Peace Train.
He was a guest on Colbert’s show a year or so ago.
No disagreement, but he did not support the fatwa.
Now here’s some shocking news NOBODY could have seen coming:
Glenn Beck didn’t like the rally, though he says it was basically the same message he gave at his rally (no, really, he said that).
Neither did Sean Hannity (who, another shocker, specifically has a field day with Stevens/Islam)
Not sure if O’Reilly has chimed in yet, but I thought for sure Beck and Hannity would embrace the notion of restoring peace and sanity (even though it means they’d be janitors instead of megamillion earning polemicists). Well, I hope that at least Ann Coulter will give it a positive review.
Olbermann’s response was to drop the “Worst Person in the World” segment. He and Jonathan Alter (a frequent guest) also discussed the “false equivalency” that they felt Jon Stewart was making between what they do on MSNBC and what Fox News does. They claimed to be fact-based, as compared to Fox News.