Marcus Rashford and Jesse Lingard have issued apologies after a photo emerged of the Manchester United duo with rapper Wiley, who has been all but banished from the UK music scene due to multiple antisemitic tirades.
Wiley performed at Club Blu Dubai on Sunday before posting the photo to his Instagram saying: "Thank you @officialdjironik for getting me a booking and big up these dons"
Both Lingard and Rashford have since apologised for the photo, insisting that they do not support the rapper or his beliefs.
Who is Wiley?
Wiley is a UK Grime artist that rose to prominence in 2020 due to controversy stemming from an antisemitic tirade online.
The rapper, known for songs like "Wearing My Rolex", "Never Be Your Woman", and his UK number-one hit "Heatwave", accused Jewish people of being “racists”, "snakes" and “cowards” before going on to say that “black people” should go to “war” with Jewish people.
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The 43-year-old, who was appointed a Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE) in 2018 for services to music, has struggled to find bookings ever since and was banned by Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and Instagram while being dumped by his record label.
What was said?
"This picture has been brought to my attention which I understand now, given context, could easily be misconstrued," Rashford, who has been one of world football's most vocal anti-racism advocates, tweeted.
"I would like to reinforce that I do not and will not condone discriminative language or behaviour of any kind aimed at the Jewish community or any other community.
"I truly believe that tackling antisemitism in and outside of the game requires a greater level of attention and should very much form part of the game’s anti-racism stance."
His team-mate, Lingard, who has previously taken part in a campaign to raise awareness about antisemitism, also took to Twitter to address the photo.
"I’ve been made aware of a photo circulating currently, that can easily be misconstrued," he said. "I want to make it clear that I do not condone any form of racism whatsoever!"
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