Twitter has permanently banned popular rapper Wiley for posting a series of anti-Semitic tweets. The social media platform, which initially issued a temporary ban, has been facing mounting pressure to shut down the account following a 48-hour boycott by social media users.
During the temporary ban, many of Wiley's tweets were still visible, but as of Wednesday there was no content featured on his account — just a message that noted it had been suspended, according to HuffPost.
The rapper has also been dropped by his management company.
"Upon further investigation, our teams have permanently suspended the account in question for repeated violations of our hateful conduct policy," a Twitter spokesperson said.
"Let us be clear: hateful conduct has absolutely no place on our service and we strongly condemn anti-Semitism. We are sorry we did not move faster and are continuing to assess the situation internally.
"We deeply respect the concerns shared by the Jewish community and online safety advocates, and we will continue to work closely with government, NGOs, civil society partners, and our industry peers to tackle anti-Semitism on Twitter."
London police announced it had launched an investigation into the anti-Semitic comments in which the 48-year-old British artist, whose real name is Richard Cowie, called Jews "cowards" and "snakes," among other things.
"The Met takes all reports of anti-Semitism extremely seriously," police said. "The relevant material is being assessed."
Wiley's manager John Woolf wrote wrote on Twitter, "Following Wiley's antisemitic tweets today we at @A_ListMGMT have cut all ties with him. There is no place in society for antisemitism."
Wiley now has issued what some might call an apology, saying "I'm not racist."
"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 told Sky News.
Sky reported that the offensive tweets were posted after Wiley and Woolf, who is Jewish, had a falling out.
"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," Wiley said.
Zoe Papadakis ✉
Zoe Papadakis is a Newsmax writer based in South Africa with two decades of experience specializing in media and entertainment. She has been in the news industry as a reporter, writer and editor for newspapers, magazine and websites.
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