Newsweek Corrects: Stevie Wonder Didn’t Cancel Israel Concert

With unsuccessful anti-Israel BDS (boycott, divest, sanctions) efforts underway to compel the Radiohead band to cancel its performance this week in Tel Aviv, some media outlets have published inaccurate claims of inflated boycott successes.

On July 11, Newsweek inaccurately reported that Steve Wonder backed out of concert in Israel (“Radiohead’s Thom Yorke Defends Israel Show: We Don’t Endorse Trump But Still Play America“). The article erred:

Many premier bands and music acts have played shows in Israel such as Britney Spears but other have decided to cancel their shows, such as Stevie Wonder and Lauryn Hill.

Contrary to the article, Wonder did not cancel a concert in Israel. Rather, as a May 24, 2013 Toronto Star correction stated:

A previous version also said Stevie Wonder refused to perform in Israel. In fact Wonder cancelled a planned performance at a Los Angeles fundraising concert sponsored by the Friends of the Israel Defense Forces. He then said he would make a donation to organizations that support Israeli and Palestinian children with disabilities.

The Star’s correction on Wonder was part of a larger correction prompted by CAMERA which also clarified that the same article erroneously reported that Bruce Willis and Meg Ryan likewise boycotted Israel, cancelling performances there. Toronto Star public editor Kathy English covered the BDS mega-correction in her May 17, 2013 column, “Bruce Willis and the Israel boycott that never was.”

Regarding this week’s Wonder error, Newsweek agreed with CAMERA that a correction was in order and commendably acted quickly to remove the erroneous correction to Wonder and to append a note alerting readers to the change.

Newsweek‘s correction about Wonder follows yesterday’s Times of Israel clarification regarding the identical issue.

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