British rapper Skepta has been targeted by anti-Israel activists for collaborating with sports brand PUMA over its previous ties to Israel.
The Grime icon has released a collaboration of trainers and clothes with the German sportswear giant.
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Pictures of the collaboration shared on Skepta’s Instagram have been inundated with comments from activists accusing the rapper of “supporting genocide.”
Puma has long faced pressure from activists who have called for a boycott of the sportswear firm over its manufacture of Israel's national football kit.
However Puma announced it was no longer going to make the Israeli national football team’s kit in December last year.
At the time the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement claimed it as a "win".
The brand said it had made the decision before October 7 and that it was unconnected to BDS pressure.
Puma said it was a decision taken in 2022 as part of Puma's new "fewer-bigger-better strategy" but stressed it was unconnected to the boycott.
Despite this anti-Israel activists are still attacking Skepta claiming that the brand is “complicit in Israeli war crimes."
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Earlier this year the Mercury Prize-winning artist vowed to be “more mindful” and removed artwork for his single “Gas Me Up (Diligent)” after it was criticised for alluding to the Holocaust.
The artwork featured men with shaved heads in matching overcoats, and the slogan “Gas Me Up” tattooed on one of their heads.
It was criticised for referencing Jewish people in Nazi concentration camps. However, the term “gas me up” is also slang for hyping someone up by complimenting them.
The celebrated MC, producer, and record-label owner, who can rely on Drake as a fan, apologised on X/ Twitter.
He said that he had “worked hard getting the artwork right for my album rollout which is about my parents coming to the UK in the 80’s, Skinhead, Football culture and it has been taken offensively by many.
“I can promise you that was definitely not our plan so I have removed it and I vow to be more mindful going forward.”
