Meow Wolf concert is canceled as activists pressured
Groups criticize pro-Israel statements by Matisyahu; company says it doesn’t have staffing for event
A concert planned at Meow Wolf in Santa Fe was abruptly canceled hours before the show amid pressure from the company’s labor union and other activists over alternative rapper Matisyahu’s support for Israel during the Gaza conflict.
Meow Wolf canceled Wednesday’s planned performance by Matisyahu due to a lack of staffing, spokeswoman Kate Daley wrote in an email Thursday.
“Two hours before the show was set to begin, we found ourselves without adequate staff to safely manage the sold out crowd,” Daley wrote. “Meow Wolf will always prioritize the safety of our employees and our guests.”
Several local groups celebrated the decision in a statement Wednesday. They said advocates and members of the Meow Wolf Workers Collective union had “inundated” the company with phone calls and social media posts urging the company to cancel the event.
The statement, from New Mexico Jews for a Free Palestine, Santa Fe Democratic Socialists of America and Santa Feans for Justice in Palestine, called Matisyahu “an outspoken supporter” of what the groups referred to as “the genocidal campaign against Palestinians in Gaza and the Occupied Palestinian Territories.”
“It is unconscionable that an arts organization that purports to have an equity lens, such as Meow Wolf, would host an artist like this,” the groups’ statement said.
Activists cited a January interview with Newsweek, in which Matisyahu said, “I would like to see any terrorist, Hamas, or person who believes Israel has no right to exist or the Jews have no right to it, I would like Israel to destroy those people.”
Matisyahu has performed in Israel several times in recent months, giving concerts to benefit Israeli advocacy groups and performing for soldiers in the Israel Defense Forces, according to news reports and videos.
In the January interview, the
artist referred to past boycotts of his performances, which he attributed to antisemitism.
A statement posted to Matisyahu’s Instagram account Wednesday said Meow Wolf made the decision to cancel the show.
“We fought to prevent that from happening, but they’re saying they do not have enough staff,” he wrote.
Some on the social media site X, formerly Twitter, shared their disappointment over the canceled Santa Fe show, with a few speculating the protests were more concerned with the rapper’s Jewish identity than his support for Israel.
Samia van Hattum, a member of Santa Feans for Justice in Palestine, denied antisemitism as a motive and said the groups’ protest against the Matisyahu performance is part of a larger, ongoing call for boycotts, divestment and sanctions against Israel.
“There’s no excuse for antisemitism, Islamophobia, bigotry, bias, racism, or intolerance, not here, not now, not ever,” van Hattum said.
In December, Meow Wolf Workers Collective announced the union’s call for an immediate cease-fire in Gaza and endorsement of a U.S. House resolution urging the Biden administration “to immediately call for and facilitate deescalation and a cease-fire to urgently end the current violence.”
Meow Wolf declined to say
whether the venue would consider hosting Matisyahu — or other artists who have publicly supported Israel — in the future.
Daley wrote Thursday the company was in the process of refunding ticketholders for the canceled show. Matisyahu’s performance scheduled Thursday in Tucson’s Rialto Theatre also was canceled by that venue, according to a statement posted to social media.
Rialto Theatre’s management also attributed the cancellation to “safety concerns and staff shortage.”
Comic Jerry Seinfeld — who has traveled to Israel in recent months and proclaimed his support — is scheduled to perform Friday evening at Kiva Auditorium in Albuquerque. Seinfeld faced anti-Israel protesters at a performance in New York in December, according to news reports.