Wiley dropped by management over anti-Semitic posts

4 years ago 253
Wiley

Grime artist Wiley has been dropped by his management following anti-Semitic comments on his social media accounts.

His manager John Woolf said A-List Management has "cut all ties" amid a long series of posts on the rapper's accounts on Friday and Saturday.

The Campaign Against Antisemitism has asked police to investigate and called for his accounts to be closed.

Wiley is known as the "godfather of grime" and received an MBE for services to music in 2018.

Anti-Semitic content was posted on his Instagram and Twitter accounts, which together have more than 940,000 followers.

Wiley shared conspiracy theories and insulted Jewish people. He has been accused of incitement to racial hatred.

In one tweet he said "I don't care about Hitler, I care about black people", and also compared the Jewish community to the Ku Klux Klan.

Posts on Instagram include videos of himself and screenshots that suggest Twitter temporarily stopped him from tweeting. However, he resumed posting on Twitter later on Saturday morning.

The platform has removed some of his tweets, with a note saying they violated its rules.

Mr Woolf confirmed that the Twitter account belongs to the London-born rapper, 41, whose real name is Richard Cowie.

The manager wrote on Twitter on Saturday morning: "Following Wiley's antisemitic tweets today we at A—ListMGMT have cut all ties with him. There is no place in society for antisemitism."

The announcement came a few hours after Mr Woolf tweeted that he was "talking to him privately" and wanted to "educate" him.

He also wrote: "I am also saying as someone who has known him for 12 years I know he does not truly feel this way."

'Deeply shocked and saddened'

In a subsequent statement, Mr Woolf said: "To be very clear here. I do not support or condone what Wiley has said today online in any way shape or form.

"I am a proud Jewish man and I am deeply shocked and saddened but what he has chosen to say.

"I am speaking to key figures in my community in light of today's tweets. This behaviour and hateful speech is not acceptable to me."

Wiley later claimed in a video posted on Instagram that he "cut ties" with Mr Woolf.

The Campaign Against Antisemitism said it had reported Wiley to the Met Police and asked Twitter and Facebook, which owns Instagram, to close his accounts to "prevent further outpouring of anti-Jewish venom".

"We consider that Wiley has committed the offence of incitement to racial hatred, which can carry a substantial prison sentence," a statement read.

It added that it will contact the Cabinet Office to ask that Wiley's MBE be revoked.

"Wiley has many hundreds of thousands of followers on social media and we have seen today that many of them truly believe the unhinged hatred that he is spreading," the statement continued.

"We are treating this as a very serious matter which must be met with the firmest of responses."

Others are also calling for his posts to be removed.

Stephen Pollard, editor of the Jewish Chronicle, posted on Twitter that it was "shocking" that the platform has "done next to nothing".

Luciana Berger, a Liberal Democrat politician who left the Labour Party over anti-Semitism last year, said the "bile... permeates impressionable (often younger) minds".

Actors David Baddiel and Tracy-Ann Oberman, who are both Jewish, criticised Twitter's response.

Wiley first entered the UK singles charts with Wearing My Rolex in 2008. His subsequent hits include Heatwave in 2012 and Boasty in 2019, a collaboration with rappers Stefflon Don and Sean Paul and actor Idris Elba.

The BBC has contacted Twitter, Facebook and the Met for comment.

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