The idea of Israel, Jews, Zionists, and in the most recent decades, Netanyahu as puppeteer(s) in control of world leaders is a longstanding, antisemitic trope. On June 22, 2026, radio host and podcaster ‘Charlamagne tha God’ brought this dangerous propaganda to The View, with no challenge from the hosts. He said, “America is not in control . . . and I don’t feel like they ever have been.” After a break for audience applause, he said, “Trump is Netanyahu’s puppet.”
Unfortunately, this was not his first rodeo espousing power-related, antisemitic tropes.
In 2020, Charlamagne invoked a trope when then-host of Masked Singer, Nick Cannon, made antisemitic comments (for which he later apologized). Charlamagne on the other hand, doubled down, saying the backlash against Cannon proved Jewish people “have the power.” One year later, Charlamagne attributed his comments to being “culturally clueless to the Jewish culture.” Of course, espousing Soviet and Nazi propaganda has nothing to do with understanding Jewish culture. But even if he misspoke or simply had a hard time articulating any kind of apology five years ago, today he has no excuse to be “clueless.”
To paraphrase author Paulo Coelho, a mistake repeated is no longer a mistake – it’s a decision.
While his stage name indicates he thinks himself great, his knowledge or understanding of Israel – or terrorists for that matter – is anything but. On Oct. 16, 2023, in a conversation with his co-host Andrew Schulz regarding Israel and Gaza, Charlamagne said he was confused when he saw Israel declare war (after Oct. 7, 2023) because for 75 years he “thought they was [sic] already at war.” He watched television “on mute” and “couldn’t tell who was who” amongst the bloodshed. Was he really saying he could not tell who the terrorists were?
In the years since the Hamas-led Oct. 7, 2023, invasion of Israel, Charlamagne defaulted to his earlier tropes regarding Jewish power.
The ill-informed radio host nicknamed Representative Hakeem Jeffries “AIPAC Shakur” (a riff on the name of a dead hip-hop artist, Tupac Shakur) in August 2025, alleging that Jeffries was controlled by the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC).
Most recently, less than a week before his appearance on The View, Charlamagne platformed one of the most hateful figures in America: extremist, misogynistic, antisemitic and anti-Israel streamer Hasan Piker. Piker is not only an Oct. 7 rape denier, but said that even if it did occur, it wouldn’t matter. Recently, when Piker appeared on Pod Save America in April 2026, he sickeningly claimed Hamas was “a thousand times better than Israel.”
During the episode, Charlamagne demonstrated total ignorance on all Israel-related commentary by Piker, who was accordingly free to lie with abandon about what Zionism is as well as its history. He also compared Israel to Nazi Germany and declared that Israel in its current formation did not have the right to exist. Charlamagne’s decision to host Piker, enabling his 8 million monthly listeners to hear Piker’s unchecked propaganda and hateful views, was very dangerous – particularly as The View’s Alyssa Farah Griffin said, “[Charlamagne’s show has] become must watch TV, radio, for democratic candidates.”
In addition to the hosts’ failure to tag and respond to Charlamagne’s tropes on The View, they curiously could not recognize that he sounded exactly like Candace Owens. This was particularly notable because just 11 days prior, Griffin criticized Hunter Biden for appearing on Owens’ podcast, rightly describing her as “somebody who’s just spewed some of the worst antisemitic, racist tropes and somebody who has pushed just very dangerous conspiracy theories.” Yet, there was no identification of such a trope when Charlamagne said it on The View.
Charlamagne’s appearance on The View marks a breakdown in mainstream media accountability. When he casually declared that “America is not in control” – followed by audience applause – and “Trump is Netanyahu’s puppet,” he was broadcasting an antisemitic conspiracy theory directly to millions of Americans – with no pushback or correction from the hosts. Through their polite silence, The View laundered a toxic trope and mainstreamed it. Such passive enablement is precisely how prejudice is normalized.