Wiley hits back after posting anti-Semitic remarks saying 'I'm not racist'

The rapper said he was willing to hand back his MBE because he "never wanted it"

Grime artist Wiley has apologised for "generalising" but insisted he "was not racist" after he was barred from social media sites following anti-Semitic posts.

The musician, real name Richard Cowie, was dropped by his management after he launched into a anti-Semitic rant on Twitter on Friday.

His barrage of comments and videos included racist conspiracy theories and a comparison between Jewish people and the Ku Klux Klan.

He was initially handed a temporary ban from Twitter, but on Wednesday the platform confirmed it had permanently suspended his account.

Facebook has also permanently suspended Wiley's Facebook and Instagram accounts for "repeated violations" of its policies.

Wiley told Sky News he was 'not racist' 
PA

In an interview with Sky News, Wiley said he was "not racist" and the row was between him and his manager John Woolf, who is Jewish.

"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.

“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 anti-Semitic.”

He added: “I’m not racist, you know. I’m a businessman. My thing should have stayed between me and my manger, I get that.”

Wiley continued to defend some of his posts, by claiming that as an "MC" his words were being taken the wrong way.

He said: "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."

Wiley was awarded an MBE in 2018 for his services to music but after his series of posts on social media, the rapper faced calls for his honour to be forfeited.

He told Sky News that he "never wanted" the MBE because of Britain's history of colonialism.

"Take it back. Listen to this I just told you, I never had an MBE," he said.

"John Woolf's got the MBE. I have never had the MBE. It's framed in his house. Now, who was the MBE for, really? Don't think that I was sitting here like, 'where's my MBE? I need my OBE. I need my knighthood.'

"I never felt comfortable going to get it. Just look at Britain's colonialism history."

A representative for Mr Woolf said the MBE had been framed and has yet to be collected by Wiley.

Home Secretary Priti Patel and Boris Johnson condemned Wiley's posts and questioned why it took Twitter so long to remove the posts.

The Prime Minister’s official spokesman said: "Social media companies need to go much further and faster in removing hateful content such as this.

"The message is clear: Twitter needs to do better on this.”

Police are now investigating all "relevant material" shared on Wiley's Instagram and Twitter accounts.

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