Wiley responds to his antisemitic comments after Twitter ban: ‘I’m not a racist’

The grime artist has apologised for 'comments that were looked at as antisemitic' and said he will hand back his MBE after public calls for him to be stripped of the honour

Wiley has apologised for "generalising", although refuses to distance himself from some of the antisemitic comments he posted on social media last week.

“I just want to apologise for generalising and going outside of the people who I was talking to within the workspace and workplace I work in,” he said.

In an interview with Sky News, the rapper – real name Richard Kylea Cowie – also said that he will return his MBE following public calls that he be stripped of the honour awarded to him in 2018.

He continued, “My comments should not have been directed to all Jews or Jewish people. I want to apologise for generalising, and I want to apologise for comments that were looked at as antisemitic.”

On Friday, Wiley shared a series of antisemitic posts on Twitter. He described Jewish people as “cowards and snakes” and made comparisons to the Ku Klux Klan.

He has denied, however, that he is racist, “ I’m not a racist, you know. I’m a businessman. My thing should have stayed between me and my manager, I get that.”

The rapper’s former manager John Woolf, who is Jewish, has “cut ties” with Wiley and will no longer represent the artist.

After a temporary suspension on Twitter, Wiley’s account has since been permanently suspended in line with the platform's rules on hateful speech and conduct. Twitter has apologised for the time it took to take for the social media platform to take permanent action.

In the interview, which will air tonight (29 July), Wiley sought to justify his comments by suggesting that “the Jewish community are powerful within the music business”.

He added, “I’m an MC. Stop trying to take my stuff and make me into Saddam Hussein. I’m an MC. We speak like that, ‘hold some corn’. It doesn’t mean gun shooting. It means hold some corn lyrically. Stop trying to be clever.”

The Campaign Against Antisemitism had previously referred the tweet in question, which used the phrase “hold corn”, to the police, reasoning that it was an incitement to racial hatred because the phrase is slang for “take bullets”.

Speaking about the MBE, the east-London born rapper claimed that his ex-manager Woolf is in possession of it. He said, “Take it back. Listen to this I just told you, I never had an MBE. John Woolf’s got the MBE. I have never had the MBE. It’s framed in his house.”

Wiley added, “I never felt comfortable going to get it. Just look at Britain’s colonialism history.”

A representative for Woolf confirmed that “the MBE has been framed for Wiley and has been ready for his collection, which he is yet to do".

Wiley’s antisemitic comments have been widely condemned by celebrities and MPs alike.