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Rachel Riley breaks her Twitter silence after important cause

The Countdown host took part in the 48-hour boycott

rachel riley
Sharnaz Shahid
Deputy Online Editor
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Rachel Riley was among the thousands who took part in the 48-hour Twitter "walkout" in response to a series of anti-Semitic tweets shared by rapper Wiley. And on Wednesday, the Countdown presenter thanked those for taking part in the boycott, which was led by former EastEnders star Tracy-Ann Oberman.

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"You're all AMAZING. They heard our silence. And they acted. Watch this space. This isn't the end. #NoSafeSpaceForJewHate #NoSafeSpaceforHate," wrote Tracy-Ann, to which Rachel replied: "Thank you everyone [heart emoji]."

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Grime artist Wiley was dropped by his management and was handed a seven-day Twitter ban for violating its "hateful conduct policy" after sharing a string of tweets, which are now being investigated by the police. He has since been permanently banned from Twitter.

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Lord Sugar, Martin Lewis and Gary Lineker were among the many to stop using their social media accounts, which began at 9am on Monday after they accused Twitter of "amplifying hate" and not providing a "safe space" for Jews.

"We are sorry we did not move faster and are continuing to assess the situation internally," a spokesperson from Twitter said on Wednesday. "We deeply respect the concerns shared by the Jewish community and online safety advocates, and we will continue to work closely with government, NGOs, civil society partners and our industry peers to tackle antisemitism on Twitter."

rachel riley event© Photo: Getty Images

Meanwhile, on Saturday, Rachel was left angry after the rapper expressed his anti-semitic beliefs on the social media platform. In response, Rachel tweeted: "He [Wiley] could have just done a duet with Jedward if he was that keen to end his career." She added: "An unprompted, still going, public antisemitic breakdown is a bizarre route to go down."

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However, twins John and Edward Grimes, who go by the stage name Jedward, noticed the tweet, and responded with: "You are a patron for a Centre for Countering Digital Hate? And yet here you are spreading hate! As anti-bullying ambassadors we don't approve of this."

Rachel swiftly responded to their message, insisting that she "didn't mean any offence". She wrote: "Genuinely didn't mean any offence to you, was just a joke and you were the least grime people I could think of [heart emoji]."

"Rachel good luck with the Countdown, we do love the show," the singers replied. Rachel then added: "Just deleted the tweet. Sorry boys. Sending you both love."