On Monday, March 4th 2026, several high-ranking officials of the New York State Assembly and other politicians from Brooklyn to Long Island, including Mr. Bruce Blakeman, gathered in front of Oceana Theatre in Brooklyn, NY to hold a press conference and register our whole-hearted disapproval over the planned concert of Uzbek pop singer, Yulduz Usmonova.
This was not a regular press conference, and this was not to be a regular performance by a pop singer. The reason for the growing movement against Yulduz Usmonova is only and solely tied to her released videos in which she expresses the most vile and putrid forms of hatred against Jews. Her blood libel is not only targeted toward Israel, but also against all Jews for all generations. She was nothing but explicit in her rabid anti-Semitism and vitriol.
“I will bless those who bless you, and him who dishonors you I will curse” (Genesis 12:3).
Moreover, Yulduz Usmonova was offered a sincere and gracious opportunity to recant her vile statements against the Jewish people, and what did she do? Like a spoiled and pampered celebrity, she only used her platform to further curse the Jewish people and attempt to slander us. Yulduz Usmonova has shown absolute contempt for the Jewish people, and has only served to reveal the deep sources of hate she harbors in her soul. She shall now pay and know the price of her Jew hatred; a curse which she only brought on herself, and for which she only has herself to blame.
I was – once – a fan of hers. I used to attend her concerts in New York. But now, I am throwing away all of her records, and she is removed from my musical orbit. To knowingly associate myself with an expressed anti-Semite of her degree is no longer a rational option.
I am not alone in this stance. Countless Bukharian Jews from Central Asia grew up with nothing but reverence for this performer. Now, so many of us are shocked and dismayed by her words and expressed bigotry against the Jews. She has lost us as a base of support and admiration. Yulduz Usmonova believes she can trade-in her favors with other Central Asian immigrant communities, but she will soon realize the overall tide is turning against her—not because of who she is, but because of her hatred and bigotry.
You cannot claim to be a lover of humanity and the arts when you project all of your inner self-loathing, insecurities, and hatred toward one of the most persecuted ethno-religious minority groups in the world, the Jews.
Are we a perfect people? No. We never claimed to be, either. But for somebody as Yulduz Usmonova to repeatedly verbalize and demonstrate her animosity toward us as a People – as a nation–is beyond reprehensible. What is more telling is the fact that she has recently begun to echo – almost word for word – the false allegations and blood libel that is being expressed by a variety of Islamic jihadist groups across the Middle East. This is matter for further investigation, and it will be further looked into.
Performers like Yulduz Usmonova are truly dangerous. She is not an advocate of “free speech”. She, like others in the Western world, is only cloaking her hateful words in the trendy talk of “social justice” and other ideas meant to obfuscate reality. Is this a feeble attempt to stay culturally relevant for her? Or has she been thoroughly influenced by outside forces that are inimical to Jewish life and Jewish people? More on this in my upcoming articles.
I know many Uzbeks in New York. I provide much-needed psychological services to the Uzbek population in New York as well. I have always done so with respect. I have not personally come across most well-adjusted Uzbeks that harbor the same Jew hatred in their hearts that Yulduz Usmonova does. She is clearly an outlier and an exceptional case in the Uzbek-American community, and she is exceptional in the worst way possible.
However, let us not be fooled or lulled into complacency believing she is not willing to or invested in the prospects of spreading her Jew hatred amongst her younger, and more emotionally vulnerable fans. That is the clear and present danger that an anti-Semite of her order presents, and that is the reason that she will be stopped in her tracks in New York.
Law-abiding and hard-working Uzbeks deserve better. The Jewish people deserve better. New York deserves better. The performing arts deserve better. None of us should be polluted by the hatred, bigotry, and intolerance of a Yulduz Usmonova in our communities. Her star is a falling one, and it should burn out.
By Dmitri Oster, LCSW