Wiley must immediately apologise and make amends for antisemitic rant or no respectable label or manager should ever work with him again
The British rapper Wiley has spent the day delivering an antisemitic rant on Twitter, comparing Jews to the Ku Klux Klan, making comments about Jewish power and control of the “system” and insisting repeatedly that “Israel does not belong to you”.
Among the comments were:
- “Is it anti semetic [sic] to say Jewish people have power?’
- “If you work for a company owned by 2 Jewish men and you challenge the Jewish community in anyway of course you will get fired”
- “My ex manager was South Africa/ Jewish and I promise you he taught me so much about how this all works I was shocked [sic]”
- “Red Necks Are the KKK and Jewish people are the Law…Work that out [sic]”
- “Listen to me Jewish community Israel is not your country I’m sorry”; Jewish community ya too touchy anyway Israel is not yours hold that”; “Israel does not belong to you”; “I don’t care Cos Israel is ours what about that”; and “Israel is ours who wants to talk about that?”; a sentiment also repeated here; here; and here
- “Certain people out here actually using hitlers tricks and I don’t like hitler just saying tho [sic]”
- “In some cases the oppressed become the oppressor [sic]”
- “The Star of David that’s our ting [sic]”
- “I’m not anti semetic I am anti slippery people there’s a difference [sic]”
Some other tweets in the rant can be accessed here; here; here; here; here; here; here; here; and here.
Wiley’s repeated claim that “Israel does not belong to you”, accompanied by the assertion that “Israel is ours who wants to talk about that?”, as well as his claim that “The Star of David that’s our ting [sic]”, suggests that he may be espousing views associated with the hateful Black Israelite Hebrews movement, which has been known to harass Jews and has been connected to at least one violent antisemitic shooting in the United States.
Wiley’s racist ramblings, which he apparently referred to as “Black History Lesson For Today”, come after Ice Cube tweeted a picture of an antisemitic mural and several other celebrities have promoted the antisemitic hate preacher Louis Farrakhan.
A spokesperson for Campaign Against Antisemitism said: “Likening Jews to the KKK is a hideous antisemitic slur, which Wiley can add to the antisemitic tropes he has tweeted about Jewish power and Jews in business. He joins a number of celebrities who have promoted antisemitic themes or individuals in recent weeks, some of whom have apologised and sought rehabilitation. Wiley must immediately do the same, otherwise no respectable label or manager should work with him ever again.”
