Wiley's coming to town

[lazyhour]

Or more specifically, Wiley's on the bill of an upcoming festival in the town just down the road from me.

Am I being a sensitive snowflake wokerati cuck for being really shocked by this booking? In case anyone didn't know, he's been a vile bigoted prick for years now. Here's his wiki page:

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wiley_(musician)

Here's the relevant section:

Following the controversy surrounding Nick Cannon's antisemitic allegations on 14 July 2020, Wiley made a series of posts and videos on social media on 24 July 2020, generally condemned as antisemitic,[86][8] that described Jewish people as "cowards" and "snakes",[87] alleged significant racism and exploitation from Jewish people towards black people (particularly in business and the music industry), and compared the power of the Jewish community to that of white supremacist group Ku Klux Klan.[88][89] He also claimed that Jews write laws, own the police, run banks and run the world.[90] His management ceased representing him and Wiley received a temporary ban from Twitter.[91][92] A police investigation was launched into the posts.[93] The next day, Wiley's manager John Woolf announced that Wiley had been dropped from A-List Management.[94]

..

On 27 July, a 48-hour boycott of Twitter by some users was started under the hashtag "#NoSafeSpaceForJewHate", protesting the social media site's slow response to the tweets.[98] The following day, Facebook, Inc. deleted his personal accounts on Facebook and Instagram for "repeated violations" of their terms of conduct in his posts towards Jewish celebrities who had criticised him.[8] On 29 July 2020, it was announced that Wiley was permanently suspended from Twitter.[99]

On 29 July 2020, Wiley apologised for generalising about Jewish people and said that he is not a racist.[100]

note: see his 'apology' below

In August 2020, Wiley was suspended from YouTube[101] and TikTok.[102] In response, he joined social media app Parler, a right-wing social media platform.[103] The following month, the Metropolitan Police dropped their investigation when it was discovered that Wiley was in Rotterdam in the Netherlands when he sent the messages, and thus not under the jurisdiction of English law.[104]

In October 2020, The Campaign Against Antisemitism said that it had launched a private prosecution against Wiley to pursue race-hate charges.[105][needs update]

On 2 December 2021, Wiley was banned from Twitter and Instagram again for using a new account to share antisemitic content.[106][107]

And here's his apology, on Sky News (reported by the BBC):

"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."

Sky News reported that the offensive tweets were sparked by a falling-out between the rapper and his former manager, who is Jewish. The pair cut ties in recent days.

"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.

"I'm not racist, you know. I'm a businessman. My thing should have stayed between me and my manager, I get that."

However, the artist appeared in the interview to refuse to distance himself from most of the anti-Semitic comments he posted on social media.

Would you book this guy? Would you support a festival that did? Would you do anything about it if you didn't support this booking?

Nobody seems to give a shit about this locally, which really surprises me.

Thoughts?

[Kankurette]

No, but then I'm one of those snaky Jews so he wouldn't play for me anyway.

[lazyhour]

Please also use this thread to showcase creepy wronguns being booked to play shows in or near your town.

[DrumsAndWires]

Wiley got banned for speaking the truth lol

the truth is a bitter pill to swallow eh

[Blinder Data]

Wiley got banned for speaking the truth lol

the truth is a bitter pill to swallow eh

you an anti-Semite as well, then?

[Vodkafone]

you an anti-Semite as well, then?

Wiley got banned for speaking the truth lol

the truth is a bitter pill to swallow eh

Yeah I think you need to clarify whether this is supposed to be some kind of sarcastic diss of Wiley or whether we need to eject you.

[Vodkafone]

The line 'I'm not a racist, I'm a businessman' is quite hard to get your head around and just makes me think of "What, in my shop?"

[lazyhour]

I suppose the bigger question I'm asking is 'should we no-platform bigots' and 'does no-platforming work?'

A partial answer to both questions would be: try to find a review online of his post-controversy album "Anti-Systemic" (geddit??).

[DrumsAndWires]

you an anti-Semite as well, then?

depends on which definition you're using. IHRA?

course i don't hate jewish people, but that don't mean they can't be criticised.
the "alleged significant racism and exploitation from Jewish people towards black people (particularly in business and the music industry)" is a little closer to the truth than some people might care to admit.

Calling jews snakes and cowards ain't classy though.

[DrumsAndWires]

I suppose the bigger question I'm asking is 'should we no-platform bigots' and 'does no-platforming work?'

A partial answer to both questions would be: try to find a review online of his post-controversy album "Anti-Systemic" (geddit??).

is there any point no-platforming him though? he's pretty much had his entire reputation ruined, so it would surprise me if tickets sold well

[Kankurette]

Yeah, some Jews are racist bastards, everything that's going on in Israel is proof of that, doesn't make what Wiley said right. The twat compared us to the KKK even though they hate Jews.

I'm glad you don't hate us though, that reassures me ever so slightly.

[bgmnts]

He supports the English football team Tottenham Hotspur

[Kankurette]

Many rappers are apparently Spurs fans. As is Adele.

[The Mollusk]

course i don't hate jewish people, but that don't mean they can't be criticised.

Wiley has been a gobby twat making an idiot of himself online for years. Try not to fall into the same habit mate, it won't go well.

[Blinder Data]

@DrumsAndWires, here is some of the so-called "truth" that Wiley spoke about

"Jewish people are cowards do something to me I am waiting."

"Jewish people act rough but they hide behind the police."

"Who writes the laws? Who changes the laws? Who implements new laws? WHO? What is the 5%ers? Who are they all? Who runs the world? Who runs the banks? WHO WRITES THE LAW BOOK? Who hides behind the police? Who owns the police?"

Calling jews snakes and cowards ain't classy though.

"ain't classy"?! it's more than that, it's racism. thought experiment: replace any other ethnic group with Jews in that sentence.

you show a worrying lack of awareness or seriousness about antisemitism.

[phantom_power]

depends on which definition you're using. IHRA?

course i don't hate jewish people, but that don't mean they can't be criticised.
the "alleged significant racism and exploitation from Jewish people towards black people (particularly in business and the music industry)" is a little closer to the truth than some people might care to admit.

Calling jews snakes and cowards ain't classy though.

Obviously black people don't suffer racism from any other group of people so it is only right and fair to single out Jewish people in this practice

[gilbertharding]

This doesn't look good for Corby.

[Kankurette]

Hahaha, those Jews getting offended by Wiley, they're just making it up, amirite? Because we know how much Jews lie. Antisemitism isn't real after all.

[Head Gardener]

Phew, I was worried Jo Wiley was DJing in Dundee for a minute

[bgmnts]

@DrumsAndWires, "Who writes the laws? Who changes the laws? Who implements new laws? WHO? What is the 5%ers? Who are they all? Who runs the world? Who runs the banks? WHO WRITES THE LAW BOOK? Who hides behind the police? Who owns the police?"

[Sebastian Cobb]

Jeez, I remember that happening at the time but I thought it happened more recently than 4 years ago.

[phantom_power]

Anti-Semitism in rap about Jewish people running everything dates back the likes of Professor Griff in Public Enemy and probably before then as well. Typical UK rapper, just copying the Americans.

[Funcrusher]

Festival should be fine, booking Wiley isn't doing a bad antisemitism. If they have a showing of 'Oh Jeremy Corbyn: the big lie' or if they have Lowkey on and he says 'from the river to the sea' is where things get tricky.

[phantom_power]

Have they condemned Hamas lately?

[The Mollusk]

Bigger picture here is that the festival are mugging themselves off purely on the basis that Wiley will almost certainly not show up for the gig

[JaDanketies]

Did he ever show up to his court case? It seemed like his brains fell out at around the same time as his anti-semitic Tweets, with him getting arrested for breaking into someone's house and smashing stuff up, and then failing to appear to court. In the latest update I can see, the police were looking for him, and this was over a year ago. Surely he can't still be 'on the lam' if he's touring

[dontpaintyourteeth]

never really got this guys reputation anyway besides like two early grime instrumentals. even a fan would concede he's done nothing of any consequence since all that stuff leaked in 2010 or whenever it was

[JaDanketies]

never really got this guys reputation anyway besides like two early grime instrumentals. even a fan would concede he's done nothing of any consequence since all that stuff leaked in 2010 or whenever it was

This is the biggest Wiley song I know, it even has Idris Elba and Sean Paul on it, and it was released just before his career-defining tweets

[The Mollusk]

I loved grime back in the day, though I've not revisited it in years but I remember never being that taken by Wiley either. I was always more of a Kano fan.

[dontpaintyourteeth]

I didn't say he didn't have hits.