Wireless Festival keeps Kanye West on lineup

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PA Media Kanye West in a white suit looking at the camera in 2015 bbc.com

The festival is held in Finsbury Park in July bbc.com

Kanye West’s planned appearance at the Wireless festival has been condemned by MPs and Jewish organisations. Photograph: Evan Agostini/Invision/AP theguardian.com

Kanye West performing onstage at Glastonbury in 2015 (Yui Mok/PA) standard.co.uk

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Kanye West is still scheduled to headline all three nights of London’s Wireless Festival in July despite sponsor withdrawals and renewed calls for the government to bar him from entering the UK.

Festival Republic managing director Melvin Benn said the promoter was “not giving him a platform” for political views, only to perform songs “played on the radio” and streamed in Britain, according to The Guardian and the BBC. Benn described himself as an “anti-fascist” and said he had become “a person of forgiveness” after personal experience with mental illness.

The backlash centres on West’s recent record of antisemitic and pro-Nazi statements, including public praise for Adolf Hitler, a track titled Heil Hitler, and merchandise featuring a swastika. West issued an apology in January via a full-page advert in the Wall Street Journal, attributing his behaviour to bipolar disorder and a past head injury.

Political pressure has escalated from criticism of the booking to demands for state action. UK prime minister Keir Starmer called the decision to book West “deeply concerning”, while education secretary Bridget Phillipson said he should be barred from performing. The government is reviewing whether West should be permitted to enter the country, a decision that can be made on the grounds that a person’s presence is “not conducive to the public good”, according to reporting cited by the BBC.

Corporate sponsors have begun treating the controversy as a direct commercial risk. Pepsi, Diageo and Rockstar Energy have withdrawn from the festival, according to the BBC and the Evening Standard, reducing the financial cushioning that typically allows large events to ride out reputational storms.

Jewish organisations argue that the issue is not whether West can be forgiven but who benefits from the booking. Phil Rosenberg, president of the Board of Deputies of British Jews, told the BBC that two facts remain: West has called himself a Nazi, and Wireless stands to profit from his appearance. The Jewish Leadership Council said it was “deeply disappointed” by Benn’s defence and urged the festival to reverse course.

For now, the promoter is betting that West’s catalogue is separable from his public conduct, and that streaming metrics are a stronger signal than political condemnation. The next decision point sits outside the festival gates, with ministers weighing whether a headline slot is enough to trigger an entry ban.