Who is Wiley and what were the rapper’s anti-Semitic tweets?

BRITISH grime rapper and musician Wiley was investigated by police over accusations that he posted a string of anti-Semitic slurs on social media back in 2020.

Wiley was then banned from Twitter and dropped by his manager after a series of inflammatory posts on both platforms.

Wiley has been one of the driving forces behind British grime musicCredit: Reuters

Who is Wiley?

Richard Kylea Cowie Jr MBE – better known by his stage name Wiley and in his early career Wiley Kat – is a 43-year-old British grime MC, rapper, songwriter, DJ and record producer from Bow in East London.

He is considered a key figure in the creation of grime music and often labelled the “Godfather of Grime”.

In the early 2000s, he independently released a series of highly influential “eskibeat” instrumentals on white label vinyl, such as the first in the series Eskimo.

He is also known for his material released with his crew Roll Deep, which also included early grime pioneer Dizzee Rascal.

He has released a variety of solo albums, including his debut Treddin’ On Thin Ice in 2004, which was followed up by Da 2nd Phaze in 2006 and Playtime Is Over in 2007.

Wiley has recorded and released 14 studio albums since 2004.

His most successful was Godfather in 2017 which peaked at No9 in the UK album harts.

But he first became a household name and transitioned into pop music, when he entered the UK singles charts with the huge hit Wearing My Rolex in 2008. It peaked at No2.

This was followed by Heatwave in 2012 – a song that got him his first and only No1 to date.

Other top 10 UK hits include Never Be Your Woman, Can You Hear Me, Animal, Reload and Lights On.

In 2019, he scored a huge hit with Boasty, a collaboration with rappers Stefflon Don and Sean Paul and actor Idris Elba.

Regarded as a pioneer in the British underground music scene with a prolific work rate he was appointed a Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE) in the 2018 New Year Honours for services to music.

What was the grime star’s anti-Semitic rant?

Wiley shared conspiracy theories and insulted Jewish people on his Instagram and Twitter accounts, which together had more than 940,000 followers.

The Met Police said they were investigating the rapper’s tweets as critics accused him of inciting racial hatred.

The force said in a statement: “We have received a number of reports relating to alleged anti-Semitic tweets posted on social media.

“The Met takes all reports of anti-Semitism extremely seriously. The relevant material is being assessed.”

His management company, A-List Management, “cut all ties” while Twitter banned him from the social media platform for seven days.

A screengrab of one of the Tweets posted by WileyCredit: Twitter

In one tweet he said: “I don’t care about Hitler, I care about black people”, and also compared the Jewish community to the Ku Klux Klan.

On Instagram, videos of himself were interspersed with posts of screenshots – which have since been deleted – including one at about midday on Saturday, July 25, 2020, suggesting Twitter has suspended him from tweeting for a week.

On Instagram on Saturday, July 25, 2020, he said: “Crawl out from under your little rocks and defend your Jewish privilege”.

His former manager John Woolf, who is Jewish, wrote on Twitter: “Following Wiley’s antisemitic tweets today we at @A_ListMGMT have cut all ties with him.

“There is no place in society for antisemitism.”

The Campaign Against Antisemitism have called for Wiley to be stripped of his MBE.

A spokesperson said: “Our Crime Unit has reported this matter to the Metropolitan Police Service as we consider that Wiley has committed the offence of incitement to racial hatred, which can carry a substantial prison sentence.

“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.”

Since his ban from the platform in 2020, Wiley has now returned to Instagram under the username @Wileyrecordings.

What happened with Wiley and footballers Marcus Rashford and Jesse Lingard?

Footballers Marcus Rashford and Jesse Lingard have received backlash after being pictured with Wiley.

The image is thought to have been taken on Sunday (January 23, 2022) in Dubai where Wiley was performing.

Speaking about the image, Marcus Rashford said: “A 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.

“I truly believe that tackling anti semitism in and outside of the game requires a greater level of attention and should very much form part of the game’s anti-racism stance.” 

Lingard responded with a Tweet on Twitter saying: “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!”