Soulja Boy has been forced to apologise after being ‘tricked’ into posting anti-Semitic video messages.
The US rapper had signed up to Cameo, a site that gives fans the opportunity to pay celebrities for personalised videos. While using the platform, the artist – whose real name is DeAndre Cortez Way – was coerced into recording anti-Semitic propaganda.
As Buzzfeed reports, Soulja Boy unknowingly made a video in support of the anti-Jewish group, Goyim Defense League.
“Shoutout to Handsome Truth and Sway at GDL,” he said in the now-deleted clip, referring to two of its members. “GDL for life, bitch,” he added. The ‘Crank That’ artist also pointed viewers in the direction of the group’s Soundcloud page, which has now been deleted.
After being made aware of his error, the rapper apologised for any offence caused. “I was tricked,” he told the New York Times. “I apologize to anyone I offended. I thought it was just a shoutout for a fan. I didn’t know it had a negative meaning behind it.”
Soulja Boy was said to be charging fans $100 per video post on the platform.
Other well-known figures – including Andy Dick and NFL legend Brett Favre – were also tricked into making the propaganda videos on Cameo.
The service later banned the account responsible, with the site’s CEO Steven Galanis calling the requests “sickening”. “There will be bad actors,” he said. “Us, as Cameo, all we can do is try to mitigate it and make sure we are getting in front of it.”
The service also deleted social media share links connected to the controversial content, while asking YouTube and Instagram to delete any copies of the videos.