Rachel Riley has apologised to pop duo Jedward after suggesting on Twitter that a collaboration with them would be "career-ending".
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On Saturday, the Countdown star was left angry after rapper Wiley expressed anti-semitic beliefs on social media. In response Rachel tweeted: "He [Wiley] could have just done a duet with Jedward if he was that keen to end his career."
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The mother-of-one added: "An unprompted, still going, public antisemitic breakdown is a bizarre route to go down."
Twins John and Edward Grimes, who go by the stage name Jedward, noticed the tweet, and responded to Rachel asking: "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."
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© Photo: TwitterRachel said sorry on Twitter
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Rachel swiftly responded to the popstars' 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]."
Speaking about the incident after it had unfolded, Jedward revealed that they felt "obligated" to say something, adding that Rachel's words had been "hurtful".
The Irish duo told The Mirror: "As anti-bullying ambassadors for the Princess Diana Trust we felt obligated to comment on Rachel’s Tweet, in the hope that she would realise that it was hurtful to us.
"We would hope that someone who has taken on a similar anti bullying ambassadorship would have known better than to pass a comment such as this.
"However, we understand that people sometimes say and do things they may not always mean or do not understand the impact it can have in others. We hope Rachel is taking this opportunity to grow from this situation and in future will think before she tweets."
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