Singer-songwriter John Ondrasik has responded to YouTube’s decision to censor his new “‘Blood on My Hands” music video, exclusively telling Breitbart News that if the platform doesn’t reverse the ban, it would validate assumptions that YouTube had political motives to silence him.
Since it was uploaded this week, the “‘Blood on My Hands” music video has garnered widespread attention for its effort to hold the Biden administration accountable for the U.S.’s catastrophic and fatal withdrawal from Afghanistan.
Filmed outside the White House, the video features Ondrasik, who performs under the name name Five for Fighting, performing his 2021 song interspersed with news clips of President Joe Biden, Secretary of State Anthony Blinken, and other officials attempting to downplay or brush aside concerns about the military and humanitarian catastrophe.
The video also features intense images of human atrocities committed by the Taliban, which easily seized control of the country following Biden’s disastrous retreat.
YouTube removed the video Friday, telling Ondrasik that it violated the site’s “graphic content policy.” But the singer said YouTube had earlier reviewed and inserted an age restriction that the singer said was “appropriate.”
Ondrasik said he has also found many YouTube videos containing similar Taliban atrocities that YouTube hasn’t censored and is presumably profiting from.
In an exclusive statement to Breitbart News, the singer said he hopes the Google-owned YouTube will reverse the ban.
“I hope YouTube reassesses their decision to take down my video shedding light on the massive humanitarian crisis in Afghanistan, and raising money for the private orgs keeping the promise to rescue American citizens and allies we abandoned to the Taliban,” he said.
“To not do so, would validate those claiming YouTube had a political motive for this action.”
As Breitbart News has reported, YouTube’s aggressive censorship of conservative, independent, and non-leftist voices is prompting an exodus to alternative video platforms, including Rumble, which has attracted Florida Governor Ron DeSantis (R), journalist Glenn Greenwald, and former Democratic presidential candidate Tulsi Gabbard.
The “‘Blood on My Hands” music video is still viewable on Twitter.
Follow David Ng on Twitter @HeyItsDavidNg. Have a tip? Contact me at dng@breitbart.com
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