Who is Logan Rozos?
Logan Rozos, who just completed studies at NYU, defines himself as “actor, artist and gay Black trans man”.
This past Wednesday rozos spoke at at the university’s Gallatin School commencement ceremony on behalf of its Liberal Arts program.
But instead of giving the speech he submitted for approval, Rozos provided the audience there with a love-fest commentary on hamas-run Gaza and a hate-filled diatribe against Israel.
Here, from Rachel Bowman’s article at London’s Daily Mail, is a sample of what he offered to the audience, and Ms. Bowman’s take on how the audience reacted:
‘My moral and political commitments guide me to say that the only thing that is appropriate to say in this time, and to a group this large, is a recognition of the atrocities currently happening in Palestine,’ the graduate said to roaring applause.
‘The genocide currently occurring is supported politically and militarily by the United States, is paid for by our tax dollars, and has been live-streamed to our phones for the past 18 months… I condemn this genocide and complicity in this genocide.’
rozos, of course, made no mention of hamas’ October 7, 2023 massacre of over 1,200 people in Israel – many in unspeakably horrific ways – and taking of over 250 hostages, which precipitated Israel’s actions. That, you see, didn’t count.
rozos also managed to avoid the fact that an openly “gay, Black trans man” in Gaza would be lucky just to be beaten beyond recognition without being killed outright. That didn’t count either – which makes him either a masochist of the first order or incredibly stupid: My vote is for door #2.
Clearly, the only thing that counted for logan rozos was the “genocide” of Israel.
The fact that Israel warns Gazan civilians, thus gjves a heads-up to its fighters, before bombing targets near civilian areas to minimize their deaths – something I am unaware of any other country ever doing in the history of warfare? That doesn’t count. It is irrelevant and immaterial. No, rozos is sticking to the “genocide” line, regardless of actual facts.
NYU’s reaction, to its credit, was swift and to the point:
The university issued a statement apologizing for the speech and vowed to punish Rozos by withholding his diploma.
‘He lied about the speech he was going to deliver and violated the commitment he made to comply with our rules. The University is withholding his diploma while we pursue disciplinary actions,’ spokesman John Beckman said.
‘NYU strongly denounces the choice by a student at the Gallatin School’s graduation today—one of over 20 school graduation ceremonies across our campus—to misuse his role as student speaker to express his personal and one-sided political views.
‘NYU is deeply sorry that the audience was subjected to these remarks and that this moment was stolen by someone who abused a privilege that was conferred upon him.’
Now maybe NYU would like consider whether the culture generated at its school had anything to do with either the “logic” developed by rozos or the degree of positive reaction it generated from the audience.
Bottom line? My guess is that rozos will eventually get his degree. And he will then move on, secure in the “knowledge” that what he said made sense.
After World War II, the Jewish slogan was “never again”. The logan rozos’s, and their cheering supporters are another proof that this was nothing more than a wistful dream.
