Soulja Boy apologises for being 'tricked' into supporting anti-semitic hate group

Soulja Boy has been forced to issue an apology for supporting an anti-semitic hate group in a video, claiming he was “tricked” into doing so.

As Buzzfeed News first reported, Soulja Boy was just one of the many celebrities who were recently duped into making videos that praised the Goyim Defense League, an anti-Jewish group.

NFL quarterback Brett Favre and actor Andy Dick were others who were targeted on the site Cameo, which sees fans pay these celebrities for personalised messages.

Both of these figures were booked to record short videos which were coded with offensive language and phrases; most of which would have gone unnoticed to anyone not familiar with such terminology.

The video which Soulja Boy was asked to record – for the fee of $100 – saw the rapper praising the leaders of the Goyim Defense League, who operate under their YouTube usernames of Handsome Truth and Sway Guevera.

“Shoutout to Handsome Truth and Sway at GDL,” Soulja Boy said in the video, before plugging the GDL’s Soundcloud, their song ‘Name The Juice’, and Youtube channel. “GDL for life, bitch.”

Check out Soulja Boy’s ‘Crank That (Soulja Boy)’:

“Soulja Boy was unaware that the video on Cameo was tied to a group that promotes hate,” a spokesperson for Soulja Boy explained to BuzzFeed News. “The promo video was what the Cameo had directed and in no way supports his personal beliefs.”

“He greatly apologizes to anyone who may have been offended.”

Soulja Boy said in another statement to 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.”

The people behind the Cameo service have been quick to condemn such behaviour, deleting any links related to the offensive material, and explaining that they in no way tolerate the service being used to spread hatred.

“It really is sickening,” CEO Steven Galanis explained “There will be bad actors. Us, as Cameo, all we can do is try to mitigate it and make sure we are getting in front of it.”