Wiley - John Mann Blames Corbyn

Wiley, real name Richard Cowie, is known as the “Godfather of Grime”. He is a significant enough figure to have been awarded the MBE in the 2018 New Year’s Honours List. He is also infamous for a series of anti-Semitic Twitter excursions which he undertook yesterday and today, resulting in his management company (whose head is Jewish) cutting all ties with him. He has also claimed the Coronavirus is fake.

Doctor, I can't keep my mouth shut

The thought has entered that Wiley may be experiencing some kind of mental health episode, but anti-Semitism is not excusable wherever and whenever it happens. As a result of his Twitter activity, there have been a slew of complaints. There have also been a series of shameless opportunists trying to use Wiley’s outburst for their own purposes.

Not least of these has been Christian Calgie, the creep who recently became apprentice sandwich monitor to the perpetually thirsty Paul Staines at the Guido Fawkes blog. who has seen that there was one Twitter exchange between Wiley and former Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn, cropped off the date, and presented it to anyone watching.

Sadly for Calgie, he was quickly rumbled: the exchange was last November. Maybe Jezza should have been a little more psychic, but then, so should whoever nominated Wiley for that MBE. But the idea of blaming Corbyn for Wiley’s Tweets did not stay with those in the service of The Great Guido. Not when John Mann was around.

Lord John Mann is hot on anti-Semitism, providing someone explains it to him patiently and slowly. It’s not his fault he missed all those Tories indulging in anti-Semitic tropes - notably Suella Braverman, Priti Patel and Jacob Rees Mogg - and did nothing about it. But he does know enough to go in with both feet on anyone who displeases him.

Like, er, the NME, which committed the heinous crime of reporting the Wiley affair. “Appalling from NME. They have breeched the society of editors code of practice and will be held to account” ranted Mann. So what part of the Editor’s Code have they breached? On he went. “This maniac has stopped tweeting for now. This tweet is about a violent racist attack. There will be consequences including for Twitter allowing his putrid hatred to continue for so long”. He stopped because Twitter temporarily suspended him. And then removed Tweets that contravened its Ts and Cs. As the BBC has reported.

And then Lord John Mann did it. He blamed it on Corbyn. “[Jeremy Corbyn] a fan of yours has been on an antisemitic hatefest for 14 hours. As you have exchanged salutes with him previously, why are you not directly challenging him to stop his antisemitism [sic], rants? The possibility is he might listen to you”. He’s not a fan of Jezza, the “exchange of salutes” was Jezza saying “thank you”, and there is otherwise no relationship here.

It was sad but inevitable that Lord John Mann would try to blame Jezza. Prince William, who conferred the MBE on Wiley, probably had a longer conversation with him that Corbyn. One Jewish Tweeter concluded “Eventually history will view this as Anti-Semitism too.What Mann (a non-Jew) does is use Jews as a political football to hit his opponents. Jews are a tool/weapon/football to use when he needs. Maybe for now it’s seen as acceptable but in future it'll be seen as Anti-Semitism”.

Is John Mann on a mission, or just pursuing a personal feud? Don’t all shout at once.

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