Jewish groups are calling on Catholic leaders to ban a controversial Croatian musician whose band is scheduled to perform Friday at a church-owned concert hall in New York City.The ADL and Simon Wiesenthal Center say Marko Perković, who performs under the stage name Thompson, has glorified the pro-Nazi regime that is blamed for the deaths of thousands of Jews during World War II.
A report in the Daily News says members of Thompson "extol ethnic cleansing - and their fans often greet them with the Nazi salute."
The newspaper reports that Thompson has been banned in Canada and the Netherlands. His website says the band is scheduled to play Friday at the Croatian Center in Manhattan, which is linked to St. Cyril & St. Methodius Croatian Church.
This prompted Mark Weitzman of the Wiesenthal Center to demand action from Edward Cardinal Egan, the city's top Catholic.
“Any glorification of the Ustashe regime, with its murderous record against Jews, Serbs and other Croats, especially one that uses popular culture to appeal to a new generation, must be firmly rejected," Weitzman writes in a letter.
"I urge you to take the lead on this issue, and to reaffirm the Church's commitment against antisemitism, intolerance and violence by making sure that there is no connection between the Church and Perkovic that could in any way imply support of his hateful positions."
This morning, church officials responded to Weitzman's letter. He wouldn't give us a copy, but he did say that the local pastor has assured the archdiocese that Thompson "doesn't engage in inappropriate behavior."
Weitzman says he plans to take the church up on its invitation for the Wiesenthal Center to provide additional information about the parts of Thompson's performance that they find objectionable.
"Am I satisfied with that response? I think that it could have gone a little deeper ... it really warranted a really significant investigation," he says.
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