Man Utd star Marcus Rashford condemns antisemitism after being pictured with disgraced rapper Wiley

Manchester United footballer Marcus Rashford has “condemned” Wiley’s comments and said that he does “not condone discrimination of any kind”, after he and team-mate Jesse Lingard were pictured with disgraced rapper Wiley.

The England star was pictured with the musician, who caused outrage with antisemitic social media posts last year, while in Dubai this week.

He responded on Twitter, saying: “A picture has been brought to my attention which I understand now, given context, could easily be misconstrued.

“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.”

The now-deleted picture, which was shared onto Wiley’s Instagram, depicts the England and Manchester United football stars posing and smiling next to the Antisemitic rapper, after his performance at Club Blu Dubai on Sunday.

Wiley posted the photo with the caption: “Thank you @officialdjironik for getting me a booking and big up these dons.” Video footage from the evening shows the “God of Grime” performing to big crowds.

In 2020, Grime artist Wiley caused widespread outrage after he embarked on an online Antisemitic rampage. During the tirade, which lasted over 12 hours he called Jewish people “snakes” and likened them to the KKK writing: “Red necks are the KKK and Jewish people are the law… work it out”.

He labelled Jewish people “racists” and “cowards” and claimed that: “If you work for a company owned by two Jewish men and you challenge the Jewish community in anyway of course you will get fired.”

In that same year, both Rashford and Lingard involved themselves in anti-racism campaigns.

Rashford has been at the forefront of the Black Lives Matter campaign and has spoken out several times about racism in football.

Lingard took part in a campaign to raise awareness about antisemitism and featured in a video to mark Holocaust Memorial Day around this time last year.

The photograph has sparked widespread fury from within the Jewish community and beyond.

Friday Night Dinner actress Tracy-Ann Oberman tweeted: “Well this is depressing. Unashamed Jew hater Wiley hanging out with someone I admire enormously. Dear Marcus Rashford I hope someone informs you about Wiley’s repulsive hatred ASAP.”

Olivia Lever tweeted: “How can you do all the good in the world that Marcus Rashford does and then hang out with Wiley?”

Jesse Lingard responded to the incident writing: “I’ve been made aware of a photo circulating currently, that can easily be misconstrued. I want to make it clear that I do not condone any form of racism whatsoever?”

A spokesperson for Manchester United commented the club “stands firmly against racism and all forms of discrimination, including antisemitism. We strongly condemn antisemitic language, just as we do other forms of hate speech.”