Far-left singer/activist Harry Belafonte directly compared right-leaning philanthropists Charles and David Koch to the Klan Sunday. Moments later, New York City Mayoral hopeful Bill de Blasio addressed the crowd and dubbed the crooner a “treasure to our nation.”
Belafonte’s comments came during a New York City church service which featured de Blasio seated in the pews.
Already we have lost 14 states in this union to the most corrupt group of citizens I’ve ever known,” Belafonte told the crowd at the First Corinthian Baptist Church in Harlem. “They make up the heart and the thinking in the minds of those who would belong to the Ku Klux Klan. They are white supremacists. They are men of evil. They have names. They are flooding our country with money.
“They’ve come into to New York City,” Belafonte continued. “They are beginning to buy their way in to city politics. They are pouring money into Presbyterian Hospital to take over the medical care system. The Koch brothers, that’s their name.
De Blasio later backpedaled softly when pressed by reporters to elaborate on Belafonte’s speech, saying he disagreed with characterization made by the aged crooner.