Singer Douwe Bob is taking VVD leader Dilan Yeşilgöz to court over a tweet in which she accused him of antisemitism, Dutch media said on Wednesday.

The 32-year-old artist is demanding the post be removed from her social media account and that she issues a public retraction, his management told news agency ANP.

Douwe Bob’s management said that the allegation was “unfounded and excessive” and said it had “incited public hostility”.

“It is absurd that the courts have to get involved,” Dutch media quote his management as saying. “That Yeşilgöz, as a prominent politician, continues to stand by her false tweet is  incomprehensible. This should not become normalised.”

Yeşilgöz posted the tweet after Douwe Bob cancelled a planned performance at Jom Ha, an annual football tournament in Amsterdam for Jewish children. The singer pulled out of the event, saying Zionist propaganda was being spread there, against the agreement made between his team and the organisers.

His decision led VVD leader Dilan Yesilgöz to criticise him on social media, saying “Children are being denied a show because of what they are: Jewish. (…) This is how normalised hatred for Jews has become. Pure hate, in plain sight”.

That post and others like it, Douwe Bob said, had led to him receiving death threats. Several have since been reported to the police.

His lawyer, Willem Jebbink, told RTL Nieuws the tweet violated his client’s reputation. “She accused him of being a Jew-hater, an antisemite – still one of the most serious accusations a person can face.”

Amsterdam police have arrested a 38‑year‑old man from Dutch capital in connection with death threats against singer the singer and his family.