Marcus Rashford condemns Wiley’s antisemitic remarks following photograph together, provoking the rapper into yet another tantrum

Following the online backlash to a recent photograph of Marcus Rashford, Jesse Lingard and the antisemite rapper Wiley spending time at a Dubai club together, which went viral earlier this week, Mr Rashford has distanced himself from the musician and has condemned Wiley’s antisemitic remarks, which provoked Wiley into yet another tantrum

In his tirade in 2020, Wiley likened Jews to the Ku Klux Klan and claimed that Jews had cheated him and were “snakes”, tweeted that Jews should “hold some corn” – a slang expression meaning that they should be shot – and added: “Jewish community you deserve it”. He also called on “black people” to go to “war” with Jews and repeatedly evoked conspiracy theories that Jews were responsible for the slave trade and were imposters who usurped black people — a conspiracy theory that has incited acts of terrorism against Jews in the United States.

In the days that followed, Wiley continued to rail against Jews on Twitter, Instagram and YouTube. Following discussions with Campaign Against Antisemitism, a major 48-hour boycott of Twitter and Instagram in which we participated, and our projection of antisemitic tweets onto Twitter’s London headquarters, which then went viral, Twitter, Facebook (which owns Instagram), Google (which owns YouTube) and TikTok agreed to remove Wiley from their platforms, depriving him of access to his nearly one million social media followers.

The image of the footballers was reportedly taken at Dubai’s V Hotel where Wiley was performing. 

Mr Rashford released an initial response on Twitter in which he said: “This picture has been brought to my attention which I understand now, given context, could easily be misconstrued. I would like to reinforce that I do not and will not condone discriminative language or behaviour of any kind aimed at the Jewish community or any other community.”

However, after disappointment at the mildness of his statement, he later clarified his comments by adding: “I wasn’t aware of comments that had been made when I got pulled into a photo opportunity. Comments that I absolutely condemn. I apologise for any upset caused. We just all happened to be in the same place at the same time.” 

Mr Linguard also tweeted a response, writing: “I’ve been made aware of a photo circulating currently, that can easily be misconstrued. I want to make it clear that I do not condone any form of racism whatsoever!”

A spokesperson for Campaign Against Antisemitism said: “We applaud Marcus Rashford for doing so much to fight racism, hence it was so disappointing to see him and Jesse Lingard hanging out with Wiley, who has called for Jews to ‘hold some corn’, which is a slang expression meaning that they should be shot. Mr Rashford, after an initial disappointing explanation, went on to condemn Wiley’s record of antisemitism, demonstrating his commitment to opposing all racism, for which we commend him.”

Wiley, despite promises of permanent suspensions from Twitter to Campaign Against Antisemitism, has repeatedly been able to create new accounts and spout racist hate towards Jews, even directly attacking Campaign Against Antisemitism. 

One such incident occurred in December when Wiley targeted a senior figure in Campaign Against Antisemitism directly, changing his profile picture to an image of this member of our team and tweeting a further picture of him. He then proceeded to taunt him in a series of tweets, including calling him a “coward” and then posting a video on Instagram taunting him.

The rapper, who recently released an album unsubtly titled “Anti-Systemic”, told our member on Instagram this morning: “Don’t hide” and “come outside”. Wiley has recently been charged with assault and robbery. We are in touch with the police over the taunts and are examining legal options.

In the days that followed, Campaign Against Antisemitism unearthed footage from the rapper’s Instagram Live in which he shouts to his audience: “Why did Hitler hate you? For nothing?”

Wiley’s most recent tirade, and subsequent suspension following action from Campaign Against Antisemitism, unfolded last night when he tweeted a series of YouTube videos that included the titles: “15 Reasons Why JEWISH People Are RICHER”, “Why did Hitler hate the Jews? Dr. Geoff Waddington” and “‘I’m here to separate the ‘good Jews’ from the ‘Satanic Jews’” – Louis Farrakhan”.

Campaign Against Antisemitism has long called for tougher regulations on social media sites and that social networks proactively search for and remove hate speech from their platforms. We also continue to make representations to the Government on this matter.