On Saturday evening, the US witnessed one of the largest white supremacist rallies in recent history at the University of Virginia, Charlottesville. It was here that hundreds of protesters carried torches and shouted slogans such as 'white lives matter' and 'Jews will not replace us,' while counter-demonstrators took to the street to show that love can and will trump hate.
Following the declaration of a local state of emergency by the City of Charlottesville and the County of Albemarle, a speeding car rammed into counter-demonstrators, resulting in the brutal murder of counter-protester, Heather Heyer.
With the US President attacking the media, saying there was 'blame on both sides' during the rally and that the protest - which was attended by members of the KKK - included some 'very fine people', members of the public took to social media to voice their outrage at Trump's blatant failure to denounce racism and bigotry.
However, actor Riz Ahmed took the collective's message one step further, by delivering a powerful spoken word piece on the The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon, which he explained had been written 10 years ago on the subejct of hate, extremism and terrorism.
'Every year I keep hoping it will become irrelevant, but it keeps becoming more and more relevant sadly,' Ahmed explained.
'It's my attempt to get behind the headlines and work out where all this extremism is coming from.'
Titled 'Sour Times', the song - which he reportedly performed earlier this year at Glastonbury with the Swet Shop Boys - begins with Ahmed spitting the lyrics:
'In these sour times/ Please allow me to vouch for mine/ Bitter taste in my mouth, spit it out with a rhyme/ I'm losing my religion to tomorrow's headlines.'
The Girls actor, who won the ELLE Style Award for Best Actor in February, added:
The truth is, terrorism ain't what you think it is. There ain't no super villain planning these attacks from some base, the truth is so much scarier and harder to face. See, there's thousands of angry young men that are lost, sidelined in the economy, a marginal cost.
They think there's no point in putting ballots up in the box, they've got no faith in this system no place in its cogs, easy targets, they be getting brainwashed by these nobs. They say that spilling innocent blood is pleasing of God? It sounds good when you don't see no justice or jobs.
However, after posting the video of Ahmed's performance on its Facebook page, the show received numerous complaints from fans about Fallon and Ahmed's politically-charged segment.
'Keep feeding the divide Jimmy - great job.....smh. If you want to bring people together then stop using your celebrity to voice your obvious one-sided liberal dislike of everything Trump does. You are feeding the anger,' one commenter wrote.
Another revealed: 'If I wanted politics I would listen to the news. Yes acknowledge the horrific crimes but don't take political sides. People watch your show to laugh.'
Fortunately, there were others who took to Ahmed's defence.
'Why is anyone criticising this guy? He's just asking for peace, tolerance, acceptance,' one commenter wrote.
Our sentiments exactly.
Katie O'Malley is the Site Director on ELLE UK. On a daily basis you’ll find Katie managing all digital workflow, editing site, video and newsletter content, liaising with commercial and sales teams on new partnerships and deals (eg Nike, Tiffany & Co., Cartier etc), implementing new digital strategies and compiling in-depth data traffic, SEO and ecomm reports. In addition to appearing on the radio and on TV, as well as interviewing everyone from Oprah Winfrey to Rishi Sunak PM, Katie enjoys writing about lifestyle, culture, wellness, fitness, fashion, and more.
