Back in November 2018, IW wrote to Hyatt Hotels CEO Mark Hoplamazian, commending him for his September statement that Hyatt venues would no longer host hate groups, and offering to help Hyatt classify such groups.
Unfortunately, Hyatt did not take us up on our offer, and had no qualms about hosting the annual conference of the virulently anti-Semitic group, American Muslims for Palestine.
Now, it seems Hyatt has gone one step further in ignoring its own red line. On February 15, anti-Islamist activist Brigitte Gabriel took to Twitter point out that another Hyatt branch just hosted a conference by the conspiracy-theory-touting Nation of Islam, led by notoriously hateful Louis Farrakhan.
Farrakhan’s extreme anti-Semitism is well-documented. In the last year, he has compared Jews to termites and claimed "...the Jews were responsible for all of this filth and degenerate behavior that Hollywood is putting out turning men into women and women into men.”
Remarkably, even the Southern Poverty Law Center—which is not known for being particularly discerning about Islam-related hate groups—has designated the Nation of Islam and Farrakhan under its hate entity classification. Yet, the Hyatt has apparently taken no notice.
We wonder: Will Hyatt ever adhere to its own principles?
