John Mellencamp At The Rock Hall: ‘F— Antisemitism’

Last night at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame induction ceremony in Los Angeles, John Mellencamp took a vocal stand against antisemitism. Mellencamp was on hand to honor legendary music industry lawyer Allen Grubman. Grubman was being honored with the Ahmet Ertegun award. He has been Mellencamp's lawyer for 40 years. Grubman is also one of the founders of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

Per Billboard, Mellencamp said, "Allen is Jewish, and I bring that up for one reason: I’m a gentile, and my life has been enriched by countless Jewish people." In his speech, Mellencamp said, per Variety, "Guys, I cannot tell you how f---ing important it is to speak out if you’re an artist. Whenever you hear hate speech or something derogatory about someone else … We’re all human things. I don’t give a f--- if you’re Jewish, Black, quiet, tutti frutti... I don’t care!"

He continued: "Here’s the trick: silence is complicity... I’m standing here tonight loudly and proudly and in solidarity with Allen, his family, all of my Jewish friends and the entire Jewish people of the world. F--- Antisemitism and f--- anybody who says anything in that manner."

The singer didn't mention Kanye West by name, but the rapper has made several antisemitic comments lately. That seems to have inspired other antisemitic displays in recent weeks, including in Florida and in Los Angeles.  The Holocaust Museum of Los Angeles says that they have been flooded with antisemitic messages after West rejected their offer to tour their museum. The museum tweeted at West, pointing out that he has over 30 million followers on Twitter, which is more than twice as many Jewish people as there are on earth.

Yahoo! reported that Grubman told reporters, "I had no idea what he was gonna say; he wanted to keep it secret." He added that the Rock Hall had requested a copy of the notes written for the night to be displayed in the museum.

Besides speaking about Grubman, Mellencamp joined Bruce Springsteen to perform a tribute to Jerry Lee Lewis, who died last month. You can watch an edited version of last night’s induction ceremony on HBO and HBO Max. It will air on Saturday, November 19th at 8 pm ET.

The 2022 Rock & Roll Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony is officially in the books. According to Future Rock Legends, the entire ceremony clocked in at five-and-a-half hours. The show featured ten different performance sets celebrating this year's inductees and paid tribute to past inductees.

As previously reported, fans will get to watch an edited version of the ceremony on Saturday, November 19 at 8 PM ET on HBO. The event will also be simulcast on HBO Max.

Scroll below to see who performed what and which sets featured some surprise guests!

Duran Duran was inducted by Robert Downey Jr. The band's set included "Girls On Film," "Hungry Like the Wolf" and "Ordinary World."

Benatar and Giraldo were inducted by Sheryl Crow. Their set included "All Fired Up," "Love Is A Battlefield" and "Heartbreaker."

Priest was inducted by Alice Cooper. The metal band's set was "You've Got Another Thing Comin'," "Breaking the Law" and "Living After Midnight."

Simon didn't appear at the ceremony due to [inlink id="carly-simon-mourns-loss-of-her-two-sisters-who-died-a-day-apart" text="mourning her two sisters Joanna and Lucy, who recently both died a day apart and both as a result of cancer"]. She was honored with performances by Sara Bareilles, who sang "Nobody Does It Better," and Olivia Rodrigo, who sang "You're So Vain."

Lenny Kravitz did the honors of inducting Richie. For his set, Richie performed three songs: "Hello," "Easy" and "All Night Long (All Night)." Richie was joined by special guest Dave Grohl on guitar for "Easy."

U2's The Edge was tapped to induct the Eurythmics into the Rock Hall. The duo's set featured "Would I Lie to You?," "Missionary Man" and "Sweet Dream (Are Made of This)."

Eminem was inducted into the Rock Hall by friend and mentor Dr. Dre. The rapper's set featured six songs and two special guests: "My Name is," "Rap God," "Sing for the Moment" with Steven Tyler, "Stan" with Ed Sheeran, "Forever" and "Not Afraid."

Parton was inducted into the Rock Hall by Pink, who later sang "Coat of Many Colors" with Brandi Carlile. "9 to 5" was performed by Sheryl Crow and the Zac Brown Band, while Parton performed her highly teased rock song aptly named "Rockin'" with the Zac Brown Band.

The 2022 Rock Hall induction ceremony featured a very unique all-star jam of Parton's classic "Jolene." Per Rolling Stone, Parton was joined by Pat Benatar, Brandi Carlile, the Eurythmics' Annie Lennox and Dave Stewart Judas Priest's Rob Halford, Duran Duran's Simon LeBon and Pink.

Springsteen and Mellencamp were both at the ceremony to induct non-performers. The two hit the stage to pay tribute to Jerry Lee Lewis, [inlink id="rock-hall-2022-who-to-expect-at-the-induction" text="who died on October 28 at age 87] and was the last living member of the very first Rock Hall class from 1986. Springsteen and Mellencamp performed "High School Confidential" and "Great Balls of Fire."