• This year’s Slope Day has been marred with controversy, so much so that its Pro-Palestine R&B singer Kehlani will no longer perform at the concert.
• “Unfortunately, although it was not the intention, the selection of Kehlani as this year’s headliner has injected division and discord into Slope Day,” Kotlikoff said in a University Statement.
• Khelani Ashley Parrish is originally from Oakland California and attended the Oakland School for the Arts. In October 2023, Kehlani signed an open letter to artists calling for a ceasefire.

Cornell University is racing to find a new headliner after its university president rescinded the contract for a pro-Palestinian performer on April 23.

The annual event is marked on the calendars of most of the Cornell community, providing a campus event venue and music lineup at the home of the Big Red, accessible to any on-campus student.

This year’s Slope Day has been marred with controversy, so much so that its Pro-Palestine R&B singer Kehlani will no longer perform at the concert on the University’s Libe Slope on May 7 as classes there end this spring, contradicting Cornell University’s President Michael Kotlikoff’s prior stance.

“Unfortunately, although it was not the intention, the selection of Kehlani as this year’s headliner has injected division and discord into Slope Day,” Kotlikoff said in a statement on the morning of Wednesday, April 23. “For that reason, I am rescinding Kehlani’s invitation and expect a new lineup for a great 2025 Slope Day to be announced shortly.”

Kotlikoff said it is too late to secure another performer for the event on April 18, stating that the university “altered that contract to make it clear that if there are any political events at the performance, there is full forfeit of the whole compensation,” according to The Cornell Daily Sun.

On April 20 – shortly after the institution announced the 2025 Slope Day headliner on April 10 – the event and the university came under fire by the New York Post, which called its actions disgusting and alienating.

Who is Kehlani, how has she promoted Pro-Palestine views?

Khelani Ashley Parrish is originally from Oakland, CA, and attended the Oakland School for the Arts.

In October 2023, Kehlani signed an open letter to artists calling for a ceasefire that would end the Israeli blockade of the Gaza Strip.

Kehlani’s music video for “Next 2 U,” released in June 2024, begins with a message that reads “Long Live the Intifada.” The term “intifada” refers to either of two Palestinian uprisings in the West Bank and Gaza Strip.

The video prominently features a Palestinian flag and was released amid Israel-Palestine conflict controversy on social media platform Twitter, now X, which has since been largely removed from the site.

What remains is a video from Episodes of Kehlani explicitly condemning Israel and Zionism.