MY OPEN LETTER TO THE CABINET OFFICE CONCERNING THE MBE OF @WileyCEO

Dear Sir or Madam,
I have strong reasons to believe that the honour of MBE bestowed upon the musician Richard Kylea Cowie Jr (“Wiley”) should be forfeited by reason of his extraordinary and sustained

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publication of vicious antisemitic views, during the period 24-26 July 2020.

Amongst other things, Wiley used the public platform of Twitter, to liken Jews to the “KKK” and to suggest that the Jewish community should “hold some corn” (slang for “be shot”).

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He also called for black people to “go to war” with Jews. These Tweets formed part of a lengthy succession of messages which he published (which you will no doubt be aware of, but which I can supply in soft copy if required).

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The revocation of Wiley’s MBE at the earliest opportunity is important and indeed essential for the following reasons:

1.He has brought the Honours System into disrepute by reason of holding an Honour while simultaneously promulgating views which are outrageous to

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public decency, very probably an incitement to racial hatred and/or criminal offences against Jewish people, and in any event violent and racist. For any system of public Honours to have legitimacy and importance, they cannot be held by prominent antisemites or racists.

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2. He has promoted values in the public domain which are egregious and offensive examples of antisemitism that have caused enormous offence and fear to the Jewish community. When given the chance to apologise, retract or even stop messaging this hatred

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on a number of occassions he did not stop. This was not therefore a “one off” lapse but a sustained, deliberate and targeted barrage of abusive material.

3.He has a significant influence over his largely young following of 940,000 people online.

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It is particularly essential that those followers see that these sort of views and remarks are unacceptable to the Honours Committee and at odds with receiving the highest Honours from the State.

I look forward to your earliest response.

Yours,
Jeremy Brier
Barrister

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