Wiley cancelled: Rapper dropped from Shoreditch gig after antisemitism complaint

Wiley has been removed from the lineup of an upcoming concert in Shoreditch after a complaint was made about antisemitic comments by the rapper.

The Campaign Against Antisemitism (CAA) had written to the Village Underground raising “serious concerns”, calling the event a matter of “extreme concern and distress to Jews in the UK.”

In July 2020, the Bow-born rapper made a series of posts and videos on social media, widely condemned as antisemitic, which resulted in him being banned from Facebook and Twitter.

Some of the comments included “I’m not antisemitic I am anti slippery people there’s a difference” and “Is it antisemitic  to say Jewish people have power?”.

In one tweet he said "I don't care about Hitler, I care about black people", and he compared the Jewish community to the Ku Klux Klan.

In a 2020 interview with Sky News, Wiley refused to distance himself from most of the antisemitic comments, but apologised for "generalising" after a fallout with his manager, who is Jewish.

Stephen Silverman, director of investigations and enforcement at CAA, wrote to Village Underground this week: “It is a matter of extreme concern and distress to Jews in the UK to learn that Village Underground considers it appropriate to provide a platform to this individual.

“Please confirm as a matter of urgency that, now that you have been made aware of the disturbing and antisemitic views publicly espoused by this individual, that the performance by Wiley at your venue will be cancelled.”

Wiley was due to perform as part of a line up of artists including Frisco, Big Narstie and Flowdan on January 31 but has since been removed from the event.

A spokesperson for Village Underground said: “After receiving the Campaign Against Antisemitism’s letter alerting us to comments made by the artist, we reached out to the event’s promoter to request that Wiley be removed from the lineup.

“The promoter agreed to this and, as a result, Wiley was removed from the line up.”

In 2020, Wiley told Sky News: "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."