Wiley has been dropped by his management company following a series of anti-Semitic statements and remarks posted to his social media platforms over the past two days, according to the BBC and The Guardian. “Following Wiley’s anti-Semitic tweets today we at A List Management have cut all ties with him,” Wiley’s former manager John Woolf tweeted. “There is no place in society for anti-Semitism.”
In a statement given to the BBC, Woolf added, “To be very clear here. I do not support or condone what Wiley has said today online in any way shape or form. I am a proud Jewish man and I am deeply shocked and saddened but what he has chosen to say. I am speaking to key figures in my community in light of today’s tweets. This behaviour and hateful speech is not acceptable to me.”
Wiley was briefly suspended from Twitter following his anti-Semitic statements, which included descriptions of Jewish people as “cowards” and “snakes” and comparisons of the Jewish community to the Ku Klux Klan, according to The Guardian. As of July 25, his Twitter account appears to have been reinstated. In a post on Instagram, Wiley also denied that his management company had dropped him and claimed that he, in fact, had cut ties with Woolf.
Metropolitan Police in London are also “assessing” Wiley’s recent anti-Semitic comments, according to a statement provided to The Guardian that was also tweeted out by Tower Hamlets Police. “We have received a number of reports relating to alleged anti-Semitic tweets posted on social media,” it reads. “The Met takes all reports of antisemitism extremely seriously. The relevant material is being assessed.”
Wiley, often referred to as “the godfather of grime,” was made a Member of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire (MBE) in 2018. Following his anti-Semitic comments, the UK-based organization Campaign Against Antisemitism has called for the revocation of his MBE.