The managing director who oversees the UK’s Wireless Festival issued a new statement defending the festival’s decision to book Kanye West as a headliner, writing on Monday that “tolerance and giving people a second chance have become a lost virtue in this ever-increasingly divisive world.”
Wireless Festival announced that West would headline the upcoming concert last week, and the move has caused several companies, including Pepsi, Rockstar and PayPal, to withdraw their sponsorships as West remains an incredibly controversial figure due to the ongoing wave of anti-Semitic comments since 2022.
Melvin Penn, managing director of Festival Republic (the organizer behind the Wireless Festival), wrote an extended statement on Monday that began with Penn describing himself as a “deeply committed anti-fascist” while expressing support for both Jewish and Palestinian states. Ben said someone in his personal life had mental health struggles that caused “episodes of vile behavior that I had to forgive and move on from.”
Penn argued that the festival gives West no more platform than the streaming services and radio stations that continue to host and broadcast his music. He encouraged critics to do the same with West, who posted an ad in Wall Street Journal earlier this year to apologize for his comments.
“I would ask people to reflect on their immediate comments of disgust at the prospect of his performance (as was the case with me) and to offer him some forgiveness and hope as I have decided to do,” Ben said.
West is in the midst of a comeback after years of a wave of hateful and anti-Semitic comments he shared, including releasing the song “Heil Hitler” last year after using a Super Bowl ad to direct people to his website, where he sold T-shirts with swastikas on them. He has somehow managed to retain a large audience through controversy, with his latest album, bully, It debuted at number two on the Billboard chart this week. West released his album through a partnership with Gamma, the independent music label whose roster also includes Mariah Carey and Usher.
West played two concerts at SoFi Stadium last week, selling millions of dollars worth of tickets and bringing Lauryn Hill on stage for the second show.
Read Ben’s full comment below:
I am deeply committed to anti-fascism, and have been so my entire adult life. I lived on a kibbutz for several months in the 1970s, which was attacked on October 7th, and I was supportive of the Jews and the Jewish state, while being equally committed to the establishment of a Palestinian state.
Having had someone in my life for 15 years with mental illness, I have experienced many episodes of vile behavior that I have had to forgive and move on from. If I wasn’t like that before, I have become a tolerant and hopeful person in all aspects of my life, including work.
What Ye has said in the past about Jews and Hitler is as abhorrent to me as it is to the Jewish community and the Prime Minister and others who commented – and took his words to heart – to you now as well.
Ye’s music is played on commercial radio stations in this country. It is available via streaming and downloads in this country without comment or harsh criticism from anyone and has the legal right to enter the country and perform in this country. He is scheduled to come and perform. We are not giving him a platform to glorify opinion of whatever nature, only to perform songs that are currently being played on radio stations in our country and streaming platforms in our country and are being listened to and enjoyed by millions.
Tolerance and giving people a second chance has become a lost virtue in this ever-increasingly divisive world, and I would ask people to reflect on their immediate comments of disgust at the prospect of his performance (as was the case for me) and to offer him some forgiveness and hope as I have decided to do.
