(JTA) — A journalist resigned from the BBC after a British Jewish paper revealed he had defended a rapper accused of anti-Semitism.
Nimesh Thaker, who worked at BBC World News until this this week, used an anonymous Twitter account to defend the rapper Wiley, who made a number of statements on Twitter this summer deemed anti-Semitic.
After a Jewish radio host named Emma Barnett referenced Wiley’s remarks in speaking about her family’s Holocaust history, Thaker wrote that she was “using the same old antisemitism excuse whenever people criticize Israel.”
The Jewish Chronicle of London last month traced the account back to Thaler.
Over the summer, Wiley tweeted: “I don’t care about Hitler, I care about black people” and “There are 2 sets of people who nobody has really wanted to challenge #Jewish & #KKK but being in business for 20 years you start to undestand [sic] why.” He later apologized for the statements, but then made new ones deemed anti-Semitic.
Thaker had used his anonymous Twitter account to defend Jeremy Corbyn, the previous Labour party leader who has been describes as an anti-Semite by the current and previous chief rabbis of Britain.
The BBC declined to comment on Thaker, The Chronicle reported.
JTA has documented Jewish history in real-time for over a century. Keep our journalism strong by joining us in supporting independent, award-winning reporting.
