Arizona
Matisyahu: Head of Arizona concert venue 'deeply saddened and offended' over antisemitism accusations
PHOENIX – The head of a concert venue in Tucson has issued another statement amid ongoing controversy over the cancellation of a concert by Jewish-American singer Matisyahu on Feb. 15.
We first reported on the cancellation on Thursday, which happened hours before the concert was set to begin. The singer later posted a statement on his social media pages in response to not only the cancellation in Tucson, but a cancellation at another venue in New Mexico.
In the statement, Matisyahu appeared to blame antisemitism as a factor in the two show’s cancelling.
“They do this because they are either anti-Semitic or have confused their empathy for the Palestinian people with hatred for someone like me who holds empathy for both Israelis and Palestinians,” Matisyahu wrote, in part.
In her initial statement, the Executive Director of The Rialto Theatre in Tucson, Cathy Rivers, denied that the decision to cancel the concert was not due to politics or religion.
“This decision was made based on safety. The temperature of the day changed, and the tone was not set by us,” read a portion of Rivers’ initial statement.
Head of venue reveals additional details surrounding cancellation
On Feb. 16, Rivers issued a lengthy statement detailing the cancellation.
In the statement, Rivers said “as a member of the Jewish community myself, a female business leader, and a longstanding community partner in Tucson, I am deeply saddened and offended by the public’s accusations of antisemitism as the cause for the Matisyahu concert cancellation.”
Rivers also delved into the circumstances surrounding the cancellation, stating that the venue was made aware of security concerns by Matiayahu’s team on Feb. 12. ahead of the scheduled show in New Mexico that was ultimately canceled.
“With security being a concern for the tour amid online threats of protests from his detractors, The Rialto opted to increase staff security for the concert and the Tucson Police Department was alerted,” read a portion of the statement.
Initially, the venue announced that the Feb. 15 concert would go on as scheduled, but Rivers wrote that staff members later started to call out of work over security worries, and that a local, private security firm had notified the venue that they were contacted by Matisyahu’s team for additional security, and requested to bring firearms.
The venue, according to Rivers, has a “longstanding policy of prohibiting all firearms on our campus.”
“It was at that time that we re-evaluated the risk that this performance would have on Matisyahu, our staff, and our customers for this all-ages concert. Short staffed and with an amplified sense
that the artist himself did not feel safe enough to perform at our venue, we decided that the temperature of the situation had changed drastically enough to warrant calling for the show to be canceled,” read a part of Rivers’ statement.
Rivers said staff members were paid for the hours that they would have worked, and Matisyahu was also paid in full for his would-be performance.
“There was no intention to distance or unalign ourselves with Matisyahu as a performer. This was not done to hurt the artist who we have happily hosted for 13 previous years,” read a part of the statement.
Rivers also said it is “heartbreaking” for her to learn that her decision to “de-escalate a perceived security risk to a performer, our staff, and our customers was met with vitriol by our own community.”
“I see now that I should have been more forthcoming in The Rialto’s initial statement to the community and our ticket holders prior to the Matisyahu concert cancellation. This is a learning experience for us all. I came to understand that our customers and community need to hear the complete story,” Rivers wrote.
Matiayahu has had concert cancellation controversy in the past
Matisyahu, in a photo taken in 2024. (Photo by Rick Kern/Getty Images)
This is not the first time a Matiayahu concert cancellation has sparked controversy.
In 2015, the Associated Press reported that organizers of an international reggae festival in Spain canceled a Matiayahu concert, because the singer declined “to declare himself regarding the war and in particular the right of the Palestinian people to have their own state.”
Matiayahu, whose real name is Matthew Miller, responded by stating that the decision was “appalling,” and said organizers of the festival were pressured by the pro-Palestinian group and wanted him “to write a letter, or make a video, stating my positions on Zionism and the Israeli-Palestinian conflict to pacify the [Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions Movement] people.”
“I support peace and compassion for all people. My music speaks for itself, and I do not insert politics into my music,” the singer wrote at the time, while questioning whether other festival artists had faced similar demands.
The Rolling Stone later reported that Matisyahu was re-invited to the music festival after the cancellation decision was criticized by the Spanish Foreign Ministry.
The full statement from Cathy Rivers
As the Executive Director of the Rialto Theatre, I made the extraordinarily hard decision to cancel a beloved performer’s concert hours before showtime. I am writing this letter to all who
have called for more information about the cancellation of the Matisyahu concert on February 15, 2024 at the Rialto Theatre in Tucson.
As a member of the Jewish community myself, a female business leader, and a longstanding community partner in Tucson, I am deeply saddened and offended by the public’s accusations
of antisemitism as the cause for the Matisyahu concert cancellation. This would have been Matisyahu’s eighth performance at the Rialto Theatre since 2009. The Rialto was made aware that Matis’ team had security concerns as early as Monday ahead of his Meow Wolf show in Santa Fe. With security being a concern for the tour amid online threats of protests from his detractors, The Rialto opted to increase staff security for the concert and the Tucson Police Department was alerted. We released a statement saying that the show would go on as planned on Thursday morning via social media.
Staff members began to call out of work for the concert citing their own safety concerns. We simultaneously received a call from a local private security firm informing us that they had been
contacted by Matisyahu’s people for additional security. They requested to bring firearms. The Rialto Theatre has a longstanding policy of prohibiting all firearms on our campus.
It was at that time that we re-evaluated the risk that this performance would have on Matisyahu, our staff, and our customers for this all-ages concert. Short staffed and with an amplified sense
that the artist himself did not feel safe enough to perform at our venue, we decided that the temperature of the situation had changed drastically enough to warrant calling for the show to be canceled.
Matisyahu’s team was concerned enough to seek armed security out of concern for his family’s safety. I opted to do the same for my Rialto family.
Our staff was paid for the hours they would have worked for the performance. Matisyahu was paid in full for his performance as well without hesitation, question, or argument on our part. There was no intention to distance or unalign ourselves with Matisyahu as a performer. This was not done to hurt the artist who we have happily hosted for 13 previous years.
The tarnish to The Rialto’s Theatre’s 104-year outstanding reputation as a safe, inclusive, community-driven space for all cannot be overemphasized. This business is built on relationships with performers, agents, and community. To learn that my decision to de-escalate a perceived security risk to a performer, our staff, and our customers was met with vitriol by our own community is heartbreaking.
I see now that I should have been more forthcoming in The Rialto’s initial statement to the community and our ticket holders prior to the Matisyahu concert cancellation. This is a learning experience for us all. I came to understand that our customers and community need to hear the complete story. I hope that I provided the Tucson community and all of our partners around the country and the world with what they have called for.
The Arizona man known as the “QAnon Shaman” said Wednesday that President Donald Trump’s new Anti-Weaponization Fund is an abuse of power by a would-be “king.”
Jacob Angeli-Chansley – the face of the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol riot with his red, white and blue face paint and horned fur headdress – denounced the $1.776 billion program as a “slush fund” for Trump to reward his loyalists.
The Justice Department announced the fund on Monday as part of a settlement with Trump, who had sued the IRS for $10 billion over the leak of his tax returns. The settlement included an assurance that the IRS will drop all audits and claims for back taxes against Trump, his family and businesses.
“You think I’m gonna take a f—ing dime from Trump and the government after he’s using this thing to cover him and his family in perpetuity for all of their crimes?” he told Cronkite News by phone. “You think I’m gonna take a dime of that blood money?”
Trump pardoned more than 1,500 people who participated in the Jan. 6 riot the day he returned to the White House in January 2025. Many had been convicted of assaulting police officers.
Cronkite News reached out to 17 of those defendants with Arizona ties. None besides Angeli-Chansley responded.
Thirteen were convicted or pleaded guilty to crimes related to the attack. Four of the cases were dismissed after the pardon. The charges included assault on federal agents, physical violence at the Capitol and seditious conspiracy.
See our previous coverage of the Anti-Weaponization Fund and “QAnon Shaman” in the video player above.
Angeli-Chansley pleaded guilty to a charge of obstruction of an official proceeding. He served 27 months of a 41-month sentence. He was released from federal prison in March 2023.
During the riot, he carried an American flag fastened to a spear and used a bullhorn to call other rioters to the dais in the Senate chamber.
“He stated that ‘Mike Pence is a f—-ing traitor’ and wrote a note on available paper on the dais, stating, ‘It’s Only A Matter of Time. Justice Is Coming,’” according to prosecutors.
At a Senate Appropriations subcommittee hearing Tuesday, Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche defended the compensation fund, saying it will be open to anyone victimized by a politically motivated prosecution, not just Jan. 6 defendants.
“It’s not limited to Republicans. … It’s not limited to the Biden weaponization. It’s not limited to, in any way scope or form, January 6 or to (targets of special counsel) Jack Smith. There’s no limitation on the claims,” Blanche said.
He rejected Democrats’ assertions that the fund is a massive, taxpayer-funded attempt by Trump to whitewash the assault on democracy.
“I think it’s telling that everybody on the left and … the liberal side of the media immediately says it’s a slush fund for President Trump’s friends,” Blanche said. “If anything else, that’s an outright admission that they know that the people that really had this Department of Justice weaponized against them were President Trump and his friends. But … that is not what the AG order that I signed yesterday says.”
Blanche, who served as Trump’s private attorney in several cases – prosecutions over election interference and classified documents found at Mar-a-Lago and allegations of hush money paid to an adult actress ahead of the 2016 election – faced strong criticism from Senate Democrats.
“You are acting today like the president’s personal attorney and that’s the whole problem,” said Sen. Chris Van Hollen of Maryland, who also noted that a huge banner with Trump’s portrait was draped over the front of the Department of Justice building in February.
At a homeland security committee meeting Tuesday, Arizona Sen. Ruben Gallego called for legislation barring establishment of a fund of the sort proposed by the Trump administration.
He called it outrageous to provide compensation to “traitors who attacked the Capitol.”
“No president, Republican or Democrat, should be able to use the federal treasury as a personal checkbook,” he said.
Angeli-Chansley now refers to himself as the “American Shaman.” He was heavily involved in the QAnon movement, which centered on a conspiracy theory that Trump was fighting a cabal of Satan worshippers who engage in child sex trafficking.
He was a strong MAGA supporter when the pro-Trump mob stormed the Capitol, interrupting congressional certification of Democrat Joe Biden’s victory in the 2020 election.
Angeli-Chansley has since become disenchanted with Trump. He has also repudiated the QAnon movement.
In a rambling phone conversation with Cronkite News, he repeatedly cited Trump’s connections to Jeffrey Epstein, a wealthy financier and convicted sex offender who died in jail in 2019 while awaiting federal trial for trafficking young women and girls for sex.
He reiterated his anger with Trump for resisting the release of the Epstein files.
And he criticized Trump for attacking Iran and supporting Israel, among other things.
Angeli-Chansley sued Trump for $40 trillion in September 2025, asserting he is the true leader of the free world and vowing to use the sum to wipe out the national debt. The lawsuit was dismissed. He later filed a lawsuit against the CIA, FBI, World Bank and others in Maricopa County.
He urged fellow Jan. 6ers to “reject that … money.”
If courts allow the fund to operate, Angeli-Chansley said, it would mean that Trump “can do whatever it is that he wants.”
Teacher unions call for board member’s resignation after ‘Nazi salute’
Teacher unions call for District Boardmember Kimberly Fisher’s resignation after she made a “Nazi salute” during a public meeting on May 26, 2026.
Provided by Deer Valley Unified School District
School teacher unions are calling for the resignation of a Deer Valley Unified School District board member after she made a “Nazi salute” and said “heil’ at the end of a public meeting on May 26.
Boardmember Kimberly Fisher stretched out her arm, making the salute motion and repeating the word “heil” twice after the board president called for a vote to adjourn the meeting.
Fisher defended her actions in a Facebook video after the meeting, stating she made the gesture because she felt that the board had been under a “dictatorship” led by Board President Paul Carver and the district’s superintendent.
“All I could think of tonight was Hitler, so that’s why I said heil or whatever,” Fisher said in an eight-minute-long video.
Prior to the motion, Fisher and the board members were speaking on scheduling future meetings to discuss changes to district boundaries. Superintendent Curtis Finch stated they could not discuss the topic because it was on the meeting’s agenda. Then Carver quickly called for a vote to end the meeting, which prompted Fisher to make the salute.
The board members did not immediately react or acknowledge Fisher’s salute at the May 26 meeting.
This was not the first time Fisher has recently come under scrutiny. In October, she was slammed with a violation of Open Meeting Law by the Arizona Attorney General’s Office, The Daily Independent reported.
Fisher could not be immediately reached for comment.
How the community is reacting to Fisher’s Nazi salute
The local chapter of the Anti-Defamation League, an organization focused on advocating against antisemitism and hate, denounced Fisher’s use of the salute.
“We unequivocally condemn this behavior that glorifies Nazis and Hitler. Regardless of intent, these actions instill fear in the community and are unbecoming of officials entrusted with educating children,” said Sarah Kader, the deputy regional director of ADL Desert, in a social media post.
The Arizona Education Association and the Deer Valley Education Association are calling for Fisher’s resignation.
“Kimberly Fisher should apologize to the DVUSD community and step down,” the state union group wrote on X.
The local teacher union wrote in a Facebook statement that they were “horrified and disgusted” to see Fisher’s actions.
“Any leader who uses a Nazi salute during a School Board meeting is unfit for public service. There is no justification for this behavior,” the union wrote.
Boardmember Stephanie Simacek, in a statement, said “this is what antisemitism looks like when people get comfortable” and called for an “immediate censure.”
“I am calling for accountability. And I am calling on every parent, educator, and elected official Republican or Democrat — to stand up and say clearly: THIS HAS NO PLACE HERE,” she wrote in the statement.
Simacek is also a house member in the Arizona State Legislature and is running for a state senate seat.
She wrote, “What happened in that room was not a joke.”
The school district “does not condone, support, or endorse gestures or language associated with hate, discrimination, intimidation, or violence in any form,” said Kayla Pologa, a spokesperson for Deer Valley, in a written statement.
“As an elected official, Mrs. Fisher speaks and acts independently,” Pologa wrote.
She said Fisher’s views don’t reflect nor should be attributed to other board members or members of the school district.
Who is Kimberly Fisher?
Fisher has been a Deer Valley School District parent for 24 years, according to her biography on the district’s website. She had two children graduate from the district and her third is being homeschooled in his final year, her biography states.
She had previously served on the board from 2015 to 2018.
In 2017, Fisher was the school board president and was criticized for a social media exchange with a teacher.
She was reelected in 2020. Fisher’s current term ends in 2028.
Former Pinal County Sheriff Mark Lamb, the Republican candidate for Congressional District 5, is facing new criticism following a recent report published by The Arizona Republic.
What we know:
The article cites unidentified sources who allege Lamb engaged in racist and homophobic text exchanges and sent inappropriate and threatening messages to women.
There are a few things working in Lamb’s favor, which are his name recognition combined with an endorsement from President Donald Trump.
Big picture view:
Analysts said it ultimately comes down to what voters decide at the ballot box.
“People have weathered worse,” Stan Barnes said.
Barnes is a political consultant and former Republican state senator. He points to other figures, like former President Bill Clinton and current President Trump, who both faced high-profile misconduct allegations.
“The American people said, all right, but we still want to vote for him, and Mark Lamb could be in the same situation,” Barnes said.
What they’re saying:
Lamb has largely kept quiet on the issue, a strategy Barnes said can work for candidates.
“He might decide, you know what? It’s salacious, it’s unprovable,” Barnes said. “A lot of people won’t believe it, people aren’t paying attention, and name ID and Trump endorsement’s going to carry me through.”
Inquiries were made to Lamb’s campaign. They responded with a statement, saying in part: “The Arizona Republic admitted that their article was based on a 10-year-old text from a person that couldn’t be located, or might not be a real person. Not exactly what one would call quality, independent journalism.”
However, the allegations could present challenges for his path to Congress.
The other side:
“The problem for Mr. Lamb and his candidacy is that his opponent will attempt to remind voters,” Barnes said.
Lamb’s Republican opponent, Daniel Keenan, spoke out against the former sheriff following the report.
“This story only adds to a pattern of disqualifying, disgraceful, and embarrassing behavior unbecoming of a congressman,” Keenan said in part.
Dig deeper:
Noble, a political data researcher, said the accusations could hurt Lamb with moderate voters.
“There’s really no strong candidates running in that primary because he’s cleared the field,” Mike Noble said. “It’s going to hurt him with women, it’s going to hurt him with independents, self-identified moderates, those that have a high school or less education.”
In a heavily Republican district, Noble said if the accusations gain traction, it could help the opposing party.
“It could potentially be fatal for him in the general election and actually give Democrats an opening in the general election, which normally they wouldn’t,” Noble said.
What’s next:
On the Democratic side, there are four people running in the primary for Congressional District 5. The primary election is scheduled for July 21.
The Source: This information was gathered from the article from The Arizona Republic, a political consultant and Lamb’s campaign.
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