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Rapper under fire for suggesting Wiley should be let back onto social media
Giggs said Wiley should be given “a chance,” provided he offered a “sincere apology"
August 15, 2021 13:18
Giggs said Wiley should be given “a chance,” provided he offered a “sincere apology"
August 15, 2021 13:18The rapper Giggs has come under fire for suggesting grime artist Wiley should be let back onto social media, a year after he was banned for a hate filled antisemitic rant.
The singer said Wiley should be given “a chance,” provided he offered a “sincere apology,” because he had three children to feed.
Grime artist Wiley provoked a storm of outrage last year when he embarked on a tirade online that continued for days. He accused Jewish people of being “racists” and “cowards” and asked if it was antisemitic “to say Jewish people have power”.
His posts prompted a 48 hour ‘walk out’ by Twitter users in protest over its failure to act quickly in banning the rapper. The posts led to an eventual ban for Wiley from Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and Instagram as well as being dumped by his record label and manager.
Giggs sought to provoke a debate by posting it was time to “move on” from the row and let Wiley back onto social media platforms.
He said: “I think it’s time Wiley got back his platforms now, he was a bloody idiot and said some stupid sh.t but now I think just give him a chance to make a sincere apology and let his lesson be learnt. The man got 3 kids to feed. He got shown what time it is, let’s move on now.”
Video producer Timbah said despite his “reverence” for Wiley’s music a “sustained week long tirade against the Jews” could not be dismissed as just “Wiley being Wiley”.
He added: “He was completely unapologetic then, what’s changed?”
Writer Dorian Lynskey said it was “absolutely not” time to let Wiley back onto social media. He tweeted: “You would be hard pressed to find a more extreme case of vicious, sustained and unapologetic racism.”
Daniel Sugarman, public affairs officer for the Board of Deputies, tweeted: “I think the Jewish community would welcome a sincere apology.
“Instead we have Wiley produce an album called ‘Anti-Systemic’ … which I believe is due out this month.”
However Chris Preddie, who was awarded an OBE in 2012 for his youth work, backed Wiley.
Mr Preddie, who spearheaded an anti-lockdown group and has claimed the Covid vaccine is a scam, said: “Yes it is true that a lot of these corporations that are benefiting from the urban culture…”
He added: “It is quite upsetting that there is a lot of the Jewish community saying he should be prosecuted …. when Black Lives Matter, I didn’t see a lot of you shouting out and stepping up…”
Comments underneath the post were mixed but provoked some antisemitic abuse from several users saying Wiley had been “cancelled” for “speaking truth”.
One user wrote: “F… them, trying to play the victim. We affe (sic) stop working with these predators.”
Another wrote: “Remember when people jumped on the antisemitism train against Corbyn. …All Wiley did was point out that there is a powerful Jewish collective in the music industry.”
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