‘Black people can’t be racist’: UK rapper Wiley accused of anti-Semitism after branding Jews ‘the real enemy’ & comparing to KKK
British rapper Wiley has been accused of anti-Semitism after a lengthy series of Twitter posts in which he likened Jews to the Ku Klux Klan, declared them “the real enemy,” and “the ones who rob us blind.”
The hours-long stream of tweets on Friday kick-started with the grime artist posting that Jewish people and the Ku Klux Klan were the two groups “who nobody has really wanted to challenge.”
My ex manager was South Africa/ Jewish and I promise you he taught me so much about how this all works I was shocked.
— Wiley (@WileyCEO) July 24, 2020
The Real Enemy...The ones who rob us blind.
— Wiley (@WileyCEO) July 24, 2020
The rapper, however, was just getting started with what he described as a “Black History Lesson,” and proceeded to claim that “Jewish people are the law.”
“The Star of David, that’s our thing,” he tweeted at one point. Wiley also shared a photograph of a page titled ‘At the height of American slavery, 78% of slave owners were ethnic Jews’ with a table purportedly listing “Jewish slave ship owners,” on both Twitter and Instagram.
At some points, his outburst took a different tack, suggesting that the Covid-19 pandemic is a manufactured distraction and a “lie,” and complaining of an “Arab control presence around Africa.”
“I know the set up Europeans and Arabs have got Africa in a headlock,” he wrote.
While his tweets were readily received by some Twitter users, they were largely criticized as “shameless hate” toward Jews.
Astounding to see such shameless hate directed at Jewish people.
— Daniel Laufer (@lauferdaniel) July 24, 2020
Why are you peddling such hatred? What does you or anyone gain from that?
— Nicola Keaney (@NicKeaney) July 24, 2020
You’ve literally spent hours spewing anti Jewish racism, are you ok?
— Jessica “מלכּה” Morgan™🇯🇲 (@jnoahmorgan) July 24, 2020
The charity Campaign Against Anti-Semitism said it had filed a police complaint over Wiley’s posts for “incitement to racial hatred.” They also called on social media platforms to “urgenty” take action over his comments and said the artist should be stripped of his MBE – presented to him by Britain’s Prince William two years ago.
Look I told ya look at what they are like imagine a black person called the police 😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂 Jewish are cowards pic.twitter.com/0Fk2M0OpHy
— Wiley (@WileyCEO) July 24, 2020
Wiley seems to have been referring to the theory of Black Hebrew Israelites, people of African heritage who claim to be the true descendants of the ancient Israeli tribes. The stance has been accused of anti-Semitism and black supremacy.
As the backlash to his posts began pouring in, Wiley responded to the multitude of anti-Semitism and racism accusations levied at him. “I am not racist,” he insisted, adding, “black people can’t be racist.” He later dismissed the criticism as “nothing but a culture shock.”
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