Wiley permanently suspended from Twitter over antisemitic posts

Grime star's suspension comes a day after he was banned from Instagram and Facebook

Wiley has been permanently suspended from Twitter, five days after he used the site to publish antisemitism and conspiracy theories.

The account in question, @WileyCEO, currently bears a message reading “Account Suspended”, having “violated the Twitter rules”.

Over several days beginning 24 July, an account belonging to the star published a string of antisemitic tweets, in which he compared Jewish people to the Ku Klux Klan and perpetuated racist conspiracy theories.

Claims that Twitter were slow to act on the racist tweets prompted a two-day boycott of the platform by many Jewish users, who spotlighted their protest using the hashtags #NoSafeSpaceForJewHate and #48HoursSilence.

Wiley, real name Richard Cowie, was subsequently dropped by his management company and currently faces a police investigation over the tweets.

In a statement, Wiley’s former manager John Woolf, who is Jewish, confirmed that his company had “cut all ties” with the star, adding: “There is no place in society for antisemitism.”

Asked for his opinion on the matter, Boris Johnson declared the tweets “abhorrent” and condemned Twitter’s response, calling it “not good enough”.

The grime star was yesterday (28 July) banned from Instagram and Facebook, after an unverified account listed under the name Richard Kylea Cowie was discovered, along with posts about a number of Jewish celebrities.

Lord Alan Sugar, comedian David Baddiel and the BBC presenter Emma Barnett were all referenced in the posts.