Actor and rapper Riz Ahmed performed a powerful spoken word rendition of his song "Sour Times" on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon on Monday in response to the deadly White Nationalist rally in Charlottesville, Virginia, over the weekend.
Though Ahmed said he penned the piece 10 years ago, his message on extremism and division seems to become "more and more relevant" with each passing year.
Here's a sampling of the poem:
“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."
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Ahmed modified the original version to include a direct callout to President Donald Trump and the influence his rhetoric has around the world:
"You see, it ain’t religious faith that’s causing these crimes, it’s losing faith in democratic freedom, marked designs. It’s no coincidence the bombers came from ghettos up north, and the way that Trump talks gives the lost boy a cause. The double-standards get ‘em angered both at home and abroad, there’s a monopoly on pens, that’s why they forge their own swords. The misguided turn violent, strap themselves up with bombs, but they’re still cowards, ‘cause they ain’t here when the backlash is on.”
Fallon's team posted the video of Ahmed's performance on the show's Facebook page and a number of fans vocalised their frustrations with both the poem and Fallon's comments about Trump earlier in the show.
"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 echoed the above frustrations, saying: "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."
Others called out Ahmed specifically, saying that he shouldn't have an opinion on American politics since he wasn't born in the country.
"He wrote it 10 years ago but puts blame on our current president?" the viewer wrote. "I find it ironic that a British actor comes to our country and cuts down our president on our stage when his country has much worse issues with the type of terrorists he describes in his rap. His 'Trump' line negated any insightful message he almost made."
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Many people commented that after Monday night's episode they would no longer be tuning in to watch the late-night program, saying things like, "you had to jump on the bandwagon" and "Fallon and the rest of his Hollywood Socialists are the one pushing Hate and disrespecting our President."
Of course, there were people who defended Ahmed's piece.
"Why is anyone criticising this guy? He's just asking for peace, tolerance, acceptance," one person wrote. Others commented, "That was amazing" and "Tears watching this, it speaks to all happening around us."
Fans also thanked Fallon for taking a political stance, something the comedian rarely does on his show.
"Thank you Jimmy Fallon. Even in the comments here, people are so ugly, mean spirited & judgemental [sic]," someone wrote. "It's awful. But thank you for focusing on the love we need to have to survive."