(AllHipHop News) British rapper Wiley could be stripped of his Member of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire (MBE) honor as officials from Britain’s Cabinet Office are reviewing his case.
The Grime rapper was reported to the Metropolitan Police and banned from major social media sites and YouTube after embarking on an antisemitic Twitter rant last month.
Activists from the Campaign Against Antisemitism (CAA) raised the matter of his MBE with government officials who have confirmed they have the MBE under review.
The letter states that their Honors Forfeiture Committee is “aware of the issues” raised about Wiley, real name Richard Kylea Cowie Jr., and will update on progress in the case at a later date.
In a statement, a spokesperson said: “We are pleased that the Cabinet Office has confirmed that a case in respect of forfeiting Wiley’s MBE has been opened, and shall continue to monitor progress. For now, we are urging the public to support our petition calling for racists to be stripped of their honors automatically.”
The 41-year-old’s tweets included ones stating Jews “make me sick,” repeating the trope of Jewish people controlling businesses and comparing this to the Ku Klux Klan, as well as insisting Israel should not be a Jewish state.
“My comments should not have been directed to all Jews or Jewish people,” he said. “I want to apologize for generalizing, and I want to apologize for comments that were looked at as antisemitic.”
