LONDON, ENGLAND – JULY 06: (EDITORIAL USE ONLY) Wiley performs on the main stage on Day 1 of Wireless Festival 2018 at Finsbury Park on July 6, 2018 in London, England. (Photo by Tabatha Fireman/Getty Images) The British rapper known as Wiley tweeted on July 24 that Jews “make me sick” after he was accused of posting anti-Semitic tweets earlier in the day.
Among the tweets Wiley, born Richard Kylea Cowie Jr., has been under fire for including tweeting that there are “2 sets of people who nobody has really wanted to challenge #Jewish & #KKK [Ku Klux Klan] but being in business for 20 years you start to understand why.” He also asked if it’s anti-Semitic “to say Jewish people have power” and asserted that “Israel is not your [Jews’] country.”
Not familiar with @WileyCEO’s music as I’m not a fan of kiddy pop. But I am familiar with the antisemitic ideas he’s spreading right now. I’m also familiar with the defiant tone. He sounds the same as white racists who say “I don’t care – I’m just telling the truth.” pic.twitter.com/eLTgwEBffk
— leekern (@leekern13) July 24, 2020
UK rapper @WileyCEO is going on one hell of an #antisemitic bender on Twitter today … WOW 😳 @TwitterSupport pic.twitter.com/Z6lSZ4Vvqd
— StopAntisemitism (@StopAntisemites) July 24, 2020
Wiley doubled down on his tweets after several people on Twitter accused him of anti-Semitism. “I’m not anti-semetic [sic] I’m anti slippery people,” he tweeted. “There’s a difference.”
https://twitter.com/WileyCEO/status/1286652796150964225?s=20
The rapper also tweeted, “Jewish people you make me sick and I will not budge hold this corn.”
https://twitter.com/WileyCEO/status/1286762618263347201?s=20
Some, such as the Campaign Against Anti-Semitism (CAA) and Jewish Chronicle editor Stephen Pollard, interpreted “hold this corn” as “is a slang expression meaning that they should be shot,” but others have said that “hold this corn” is British slang for telling someone to “take the L (loss).”
Twitter user Michael Elgort asked Wiley if he would “pretend that is a mere accident you used this phrase before the words ‘Jewish community.’” Wiley replied: “No I won’t I will call you lot cowards forever tho.”
https://twitter.com/WileyCEO/status/1286732675282358273?s=20
Wiley also retweeted a tweet by a person named Kekman that read, “Im [sic] so sick of f—ing Jews at this point. You are the most vile people in the history of humanity.”
The CAA condemned Wiley’s tweets in a statement.
“Likening Jews to the KKK is a hideous anti-Semitic slur, which Wiley can add to the anti-Semitic tropes he has tweeted about Jewish power and Jews in business,” the statement read. “He joins a number of celebrities who have promoted anti-Semitic themes or individuals in recent weeks, some of whom have apologized and sought rehabilitation. Wiley must immediately do the same, otherwise no respectable label or manager should work with him ever again.”
Pollard tweeted to Wiley, “You know who else shared your views of Jewish power? Clue: First name began with an A, second an H. You are a racist. Unambiguously. Don’t try to pretend you are speaking some sort of truth. You are spouting Jew hate, like neo-Nazis and the rest of them.”
Hi @WileyCEO. You know who else shared your views of Jewish power? Clue: First name began with an A, second an H.
You are a racist. Unambiguously. Don't try to pretend you are speaking some sort of truth. You are spouting Jew hate, like neo-Nazis and the rest of them https://t.co/eyu9gP03pQ— Stephen Pollard (@stephenpollard) July 24, 2020
British researcher David Collier tweeted, “For 9 hours @wileyceo an MBE [Member of the Order of the British Empire] and an account with almost 500k followers has been producing vicious and non stop anti-Semitic commentary – inciting hate – violence and even containing threats. Where the hell is @Twitter
@TwitterSupport [?] This crosses all your standards.”
For 9 hours @wileyceo an MBE and an account with almost 500k followers has been producing vicious and non stop antisemitic commentary – inciting hate – violence and even containing threats.
Where the hell is @Twitter @TwitterSupport
This crosses all your standards.
— David Collier (@mishtal) July 24, 2020
The CAA issued a statement later in the day saying that the organization has reported Wiley’s tweets to the police.
“We have additionally asked Twitter and Facebook, which owns Instagram, to close down his accounts which have hundreds of thousands of followers, to prevent further outpouring of anti-Jewish venom,” the statement read. “Our Regulatory Enforcement Unit is contacting the Honours Forfeiture Committee at the Cabinet Office to ask that Wiley’s MBE be revoked, and we will be looking to ensure that no reputable label or manager works with him again.”
John Woolf, who is Wiley’s manager and is Jewish, tweeted, “I do not support or condone what Wiley has said today online in anyway shape or form. We are going to help educate him here on this. And in 12 years he has never acted in this manner.”
https://twitter.com/Jrwoolfw/status/1286733938749329408?s=20
UPDATE: Wiley announced on his Instagram page that his Twitter account has been suspended for 12 hours.
https://www.instagram.com/p/CDCytEZDBrS/?igshid=1xt6vgf5smma5
More news and opinions than at a Shabbat dinner, right in your inbox.