Jewish singer Jessie Ware reveals she suffered Anti-Semitic abuse from a colleague

‘I was so embarrassed I didn’t stick up for myself’: Jewish singer Jessie Ware reveals she suffered Anti-Semitic abuse from a colleague which left her in tears

  • The Jewish singer, 37, said she initially laughed off the racist comment, before becoming ’embarrassed and angry’ over not sticking up for herself 
  • Jessie did not reveal where the incident had taken place or the exact remark made
  • Jessie’s mother is Jewish and she was raised in the faith 

Jessie Ware has recounted how she was left in tears after being subjected to Anti-Semitic abuse in the workplace.

The Jewish singer, 37, said she initially laughed off the racist comment, before becoming ’embarrassed and angry’ over not sticking up for herself, as she would for others who have been bullied.

Speaking on the Homo Sapiens podcast, she said: ‘I can really stick up for other people but I can’t stick up for myself.

Devastating: Jessie Ware has recounted how she was left in tears after being subjected to Anti-Semitic abuse in the workplace

‘I had a situation recently where somebody was Anti-Semitic to me in my workplace – I’m Jewish – and said something.

‘And I laughed – because I didn’t know how else to react. Took myself out the room.

‘And it took my colleague to ask me if I was ok. And I was like “yeah, yeah, I’m fine”. And he went “I just heard what he just said, and it’s not f******g ok”.

‘I burst into tears, like burst into tears so much that I couldn’t come back into the room. Was so embarrassed that I was bursting into tears. Was so embarrassed that I hadn’t stood up for myself.

Successful singer: The Jewish singer, 37, said she initially laughed off the racist comment, before becoming 'embarrassed and angry' over not sticking up for herself, as she would for others who have been bullied (pictured 2021)

Successful singer: The Jewish singer, 37, said she initially laughed off the racist comment, before becoming ’embarrassed and angry’ over not sticking up for herself, as she would for others who have been bullied (pictured 2021)

‘And he said “Jessie, if it had been anybody else who (he) was speaking about in this room – homophobic, racist, misogynistic – you would have been like “get the f**k out’. So of course I had to do the same for you, of course”.’

‘And I was really angry at myself because I didn’t know whether I was crying more because I hadn’t stood up for myself or because I was actually genuinely kind of shocked and hurt.

‘But yeah, when it comes to other people I’ll f*****g fight hard, but sometimes I don’t do the same for myself.

‘I felt very lucky that I had an ally in somebody else recognising it when I was willing to sweep it under the carpet which I’m very embarrassed about.’

Jessie did not reveal where the incident had taken place or the exact remark made.

The Wildest Moments singer said although she’ll fight tooth and nail when she can help other victims, she does feel guilt that she was unaware her brother Alex was gay and suffering abuse for some time. 

By the time he told her she could not defend him because they attended different schools.

Jessie, who wrote the track Taking in Water on her first album about 34-year-old doctor Alex’s ordeal, said: ‘He told me about a year before he told mum. And it breaks my heart – there is total guilt – we went to different schools, he had a f*****g hard time at school, and I could have protected him because I could have.

‘They wouldn’t have f*****g f****d with him if I’d been there.

‘There’s huge guilt that he was suffering for a long time.

‘I wasn’t tough, but I was popular at school and I got on with everybody and I can’t stand bullies. I f*****g hate bullies and people that are mean to other people because they’re different. Those are the ones that I want to f*****g kill.

‘It wouldn’t have happened.’

Speaking about Alex and her song about him, Jessie added: ‘We’ve kind of got this funny relationship where we kind of grunt at each other, we don’t tell each other how we’re feeling. However, we understand each other.

‘At the time when I wrote that, I wouldn’t have been able to sit down and be like ‘tell me how are you?’. So I had to write a song about it. A lot of my gay and queer fans ask me to sing that song.’

Candid: The Wildest Moments singer said although she'll fight tooth and nail when she can help other victims, she does feel guilt that she was unaware her brother Alex was gay and suffering abuse for some time (pictured 2021)

Candid: The Wildest Moments singer said although she’ll fight tooth and nail when she can help other victims, she does feel guilt that she was unaware her brother Alex was gay and suffering abuse for some time (pictured 2021)

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