Nation of Islam leader Louis Farrakhan can’t seem to stay out of the news these days. The infamous antisemite showed up in Chicago at St. Sabina Catholic Church as an invited guest of Father Michael Pfleger. With all of the focus on antisemitism among some liberals these days and Farrakhan’s influential position among Democrats, he was apparently trying to clear the air and demonstrate how he’s really not such a Jew hater after all. Of course, he probably didn’t help his cause much by invoking the phrase “Satanic Jews.” (CBS Chicago)

Days after being banned from Facebook, Nation of Islam leader Louis Farrakhan is fighting back with some help from Father Michael Pfleger, and while denying he is anti-Semitic, he claimed, “I’m here to separate the good Jews from the Satanic Jews.” During a speech Thursday night at St. Sabina, Pfleger asked everyone to stream Farrakhan’s appearance live on social media. Pfleger welcomed a packed church before introducing his invited guest. “This is the same Facebook that has been live streaming shootings, attempted rapes, white supremacists, racial name calling and countless other violent and racist acts,” Pfleger said.

Well, I’m glad we finally cleared that up. You see, Farrakhan doesn’t hate all of the Jews. Just the Satanic ones. Got it.

You might wonder how he wound up addressing the congregation at a Catholic Church, but his host wasn’t exactly a stranger to controversy. Father Michael Pfleger has made a habit of showing up in the news on a regular basis for quite some time now. You may recall back in the 2008 Democratic primary when he gave a sermon where he talked about Hillary Clinton’s white privilege and how she was crying after Barack Obama showed up to “steal her show.” (Pfleger is white.)

He was also caught on a hot microphone threatening to kill the owner of a gun shop in Chicago, though he later apologized. He got into so many run-ins with then-Bishop Francis George that the Bishop suspended him from administering the Sacraments in 2011. (The suspension was lifted later that same year.)

This appearance also seemed to catch the church by surprise. The Archdiocese of Chicago quickly released a statement about Farrakhan’s appearance, saying that they had not sponsored the event and that Cardinal Cupich was not consulted prior to the invitation being made. They also condemned “discriminatory rhetoric of any kind,” without specifically calling out Farrakhan by name or quoting his “Satanic Jews” comment.

Whenever I bring Farrakhan up, I almost always get some pushback from Democrats on social media saying that he’s just a “fringe” figure and doesn’t represent mainstream liberalism or the Democratic Party. But they sure seem to keep electing people who rush to Farrakhan’s defense at the drop of a hat. And as long as you’ve got a bunch of Farrakhan apologists making the headlines on a regular basis, denials of an uptick in antisemitism ring rather hollow.