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) (JTA) — The Twitter account of the British rapper Wiley has been permanently suspended following a seven-day ban for a series of Semitic tweets seen as anti-Semitic.
The decision, announced Wednesday, follows a 48-hour boycott by many users, notably British and Jewish, over what they deemed as Twitter’s failure to reprimand the artist over his tweets in a timely manner.
It also comes a day after Facebook and Instagram removed Wiley’s private and verified accounts for similar conduct.
Twitter in a statement said it was sorry it “did not move faster” and was “continuing to assess the situation internally. ”
“We deeply respect the concerns shared by the Jewish community and online safety advocates,” the social media network also said in the statement, which promised to work against anti-Semitism on the platform.
Among Wiley’s comments were “I don’t care about Hitler, I care about black people” and “There are 2 sets of people who nobody has really wanted to challenge #Jewish & #KKK but being in business for 20 years you start to undestand [sic] why,” according to reports. They led his Jewish manager to quit representing him.
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