Hundreds of British musicians and music industry leaders signed an open letter condemning anti-Semitism and all other forms of racism following comments made by English rapper Wiley, The Jewish Telegraphic Agency reported Monday.
Among the letter’s signatories are former One Direction member Niall Horan, pop-rockers The 1975, Lily Allen, Rita Ora, Lewis Capaldi, Yungblud and James Blunt, in addition to Universal Music, Warner Music and Sony Music.
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Matthew Healy of the band The 1975 performs at the 2019 Governors Ball Music Festival at Randall's Island Park on June 1, 2019, in New York
(Photo: AP)
“We, representatives from the music industry, write to demonstrate and express our determination, that love, unity and friendship, not division and hatred, must and will always be our common cause,” the #NoSilenceInMusic letter stated.
“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."
“From slavery to the Holocaust we have painful collective memories. All forms of racism have the same roots — ignorance, lack of education and scapegoating.”
The letter comes a week after Wiley’s Twitter spree drew widespread attention.
Many British Jews boycotted Twitter for 48 hours last week under the #NoSafeSpaceForJewHate 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.