CHICAGO _ Minister Louis Farrakhan, longtime leader of the Chicago-based Nation of Islam, has received support from one of Chicago's more prominent priests after being banned from Facebook last week.
The Rev. Michael Pfleger, senior pastor at St. Sabina Catholic Church, has invited Farrakhan to respond to his ousting from the social media platform at 7 p.m. Thursday at St. Sabina Catholic Church.
"I STAND WITH MY BROTHER," Pfleger wrote in a tweet.
Last week, Facebook banned several users, including Farrakhan, a black nationalist leader, and Alex Jones, a right-wing conspiracy theorist, who it says violated its terms of service against hate and violence. Farrakhan has a long history of making remarks considered anti-Semitic.
Facebook's decision was met with heavy criticism from people who disagreed with the company's power and willingness to remove posts considered objectionable.
"Facebook and Instagram's decisions to remove the ... Honorable Minister Louis Farrakhan social media pages are completely unjustified," the Nation of Islam's executive council said in a news release. "The message of Minister Louis Farrakhan cannot and will not be stifled by any social media platform."
