Pressure mounted on Sunday to pull Kanye West from his headline slot at this summer’s Wireless Festival in London after Pepsi withdrew as the event’s lead sponsor.
The festival, due to run from July 10-12 at Finsbury Park in north London, had booked Ye to perform before about 150,000 revellers over three nights. Pepsi said in a statement on Sunday that it had decided to withdraw its sponsorship of Wireless Festival, while other sponsors including Budweiser and PayPal were being urged to follow suit.
The backlash lands as the 48-year-old rapper, who changed his name in 2021, continues to face fierce criticism over years of antisemitic remarks. He has voiced admiration for Adolf Hitler, released a song called “Heil Hitler” last year and, a few months earlier, advertised a swastika T-shirt for sale on his website.
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Ye apologized in January for those comments in a full-page advertisement in the, saying his bipolar disorder had led him into “a four-month long, manic episode of psychotic, paranoid and impulsive behavior that destroyed my life.” But the apology has done little to blunt the anger around his bookings, especially at a time when concern over antisemitism in Britain is running high.
Prime Minister Keir Starmer said it was “deeply concerning” that Ye had been booked to perform at the festival. He said antisemitism “in any form is abhorrent and must be confronted clearly and firmly wherever it appears,” and added that “everyone has a responsibility to ensure Britain is a place where Jewish people feel safe and secure.” Phil Rosenberg called it “absolutely the wrong decision” to allow Ye to play.
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The timing sharpened the pressure further over the weekend, after two men and a 17-year-old boy were ordered to remain in custody on Saturday on charges of torching four ambulances run by a Jewish community-service in northwest London. Wireless Festival did not immediately comment when contacted.
For now, the question is not whether the booking is controversial. It is whether the festival will keep a performer whose presence has already driven away a major sponsor and drawn the attention of the prime minister days before the music is due to begin.
