The British rapper known as Wiley tweeted on Friday that Jews “make me sick” after he was accused of posting antisemitic tweets earlier in the day.
Among the twitter tirade Wiley, born Richard Kylea Cowie Jr., has been under fire for 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 antisemitic “to say Jewish people have power” and asserted that “Israel is not your [Jews’] country.”
The British organization combatting antisemitism 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.”
Twitter responded with suspended Wiley for 12 hours.
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.”