Erykah Badu Sounds Like She’s In The Sunken Place: “I Saw Something Good In Hitler”

R&B singer Erykah Badu has turned into public enemy number one. The soulful crooner has sparked headlines after making empathetic comments about evil icon Adolf Hitler.

In a new interview, Badu addresses the perception of her possibly being anti-Semitic over allegedly defending Louis Farrakhan.

“I never made a statement about Louis Farrakhan — ever. … I’ll follow anyone who has positive aspects. He single-handedly changed half of the Nation of Islam to clean eating, clean living, caring for their families. He has flaws — like any man — but I’m not responsible for that. I said I’ve appreciated what he’s done for a lot of black Americans. … But I’m not an anti-Semitic person. I don’t even know what anti-Semitic was before I was called it. I’m a humanist. I see good in everybody. I saw something good in Hitler. Yeah, I did. Hitler was a wonderful painter. … Okay, he was a terrible painter. Poor thing. He had a terrible childhood. That means that when I’m looking at my daughter, Mars, I could imagine her being in someone else’s home and being treated so poorly, and what that could spawn. I see things like that. I guess it’s just the Pisces in me.” (Vulture)

Instead of stopping there, Badu continued to answer questions focused on Hitler.

“I don’t care if the whole group says something, I’m going to be honest. I know I don’t have the most popular opinion sometimes. … Why can’t I say what I’m saying? Because he did such terrible things? …. You asked me a question. I could’ve chosen not to answer. I don’t walk around thinking about Hitler or Louis Farrakhan. But I understand what you’re saying: “Why would you want to risk fueling hateful thinking?” I have a platform, and I would never want to hurt people. I would never do that. I would never even imagine doing that. I would never even want a group of white men who believe that the Confederate flag is worth saving to feel bad. That’s not how I operate.” (Vulture)

Her comments have already sparked a wide range of reactions across social media.

https://twitter.com/SopanDeb/status/956191777580560384

Erykah Badu, nooooooo! (Erykah and I went to college together, and I’m just floored by this interview) https://t.co/5ndjVDyHiN pic.twitter.com/G7Xyh93ms9

— Charles M. Blow (@CharlesMBlow) January 24, 2018

Why why why did I click to see why Erykah Badu was trending??? pic.twitter.com/w99JEIO1ZZ

— Joy Reid (@JoyAnnReid) January 24, 2018

https://twitter.com/Liberiangyal/status/956186236556926976

It’s Wednesday and Erykah Badu is talking about the good in Hitler. https://t.co/FR9oMJxFkg pic.twitter.com/jhPJw1NzZK

— Yashar Ali 🐘 (@yashar) January 24, 2018

Erykah Badu: I’m a humanist. I see good in everybody. I saw something good in Hitler.

The journalist: pic.twitter.com/SvyQj1Tlrw

— philip lewis (@Phil_Lewis_) January 24, 2018