British pop stars condemn anti-Semitism after rapper Wiley’s tweets

Hundreds in music industry, including James Blunt, former One Direction member Niall Horan, The 1975, and Lily Allen, sign open letter

By Gabe Friedman 3 August 2020, 10:50 pm

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Matthew Healy of The 1975 performs in support of the band's 'Notes on a Conditional Form' release at Bill Graham Civic Auditorium on April 22, 2019, in San Francisco, California. (Tim Mosenfelder/ Getty Images via JTA)

JTA — Hundreds of British musicians and music industry leaders have signed an open letter condemning anti-Semitism and other forms of hate in the wake of the scandal involving English rapper Wiley, who was banned from Twitter for posting anti-Semitic tweets.

Among the letter’s signers are former One Direction member Niall Horan, pop rockers The 1975, Lily Allen, Rita Ora, Lewis Capaldi, and James Blunt, in addition to Universal Music, Warner Music, and Sony Music.

“Whether it be systemic racism and racial inequality highlighted by continued police brutality in America or anti-Jewish racism promulgated through online attacks, the result is the same: suspicion, hatred, and division,” reads the #NoSilenceInMusic letter, published Saturday.

“From slavery to the Holocaust, we have painful collective memories. All forms of racism have the same roots — ignorance, lack of education, and scapegoating.”

Wiley poses for photographers upon arrival at the NME 2017 music awards in London, February 15, 2017. (Vianney Le Caer/Invision/AP)

The display of solidarity from prominent British pop stars, songwriters, producers, managers, record labels, and publishers, most of them not Jewish, comes a week after Wiley’s Twitter spree drew widespread attention. Many British Jews boycotted Twitter for 48 hours last week to protest the platform, which allowed the tweets to remain up for days before deleting them and then banning Wiley entirely. The rapper said he had been lashing out because of his anger at his Jewish manager.