As Kanye “Ye” West was likely basking in the success of his comeback last week — which included his first LP in four years, Bullydebuted at number two on the Billboard 200 albums chart and received mostly positive reviews, and two sold-out shows in Los Angeles were praised for their groundbreaking stage design, and in the United Kingdom. Strong reaction to global star booking three nights at upcoming Wireless Festival in July this year – A string of labels pulling out of the London event have created a rift in what almost looked like a smooth return to the mainstream for the popular but problematic rapper.
West’s return to the UK was announced last week by London festival organisers, who took the unprecedented step of putting him headlining all three nights. A strong and divisive backlash ensued, with many arguing that the beloved summer event should not be headlined by a man known for his hate speech and anti-Semitism. Over the weekend, British Prime Minister Keir Starmer condemned the decision, prompting a series of companies to abandon the event and prompting its organizer to rush to defend its decision.
Starmer said: “It is extremely disturbing that Kanye West has been booked to perform at Wireless despite his previous anti-Semitic statements and celebration of Nazism.”
On Monday, Pepsi did mention that West was headlining all three nights of the high-profile Wireless festival in its statement, but the controversies he sparked appeared to be a deal-breaker, and the company — the event’s major sponsor — said it would officially withdraw from its deal with organizers. Diageo – the parent company of Guinness, Baileys, Smirnoff and Cîroc and Wireless partners Captain Morgan and Johnnie Walker – also announced on Monday that it would withdraw its support, with Captain Morgan and Johnnie Walker serving as major sponsors of the event. Neither company gave specific reasons for abruptly leaving the festival, which is still called “Pepsi MAX Presents Wireless.”
A Diageo spokesperson told CNN: “We have made our concerns known to the organizers, and at this time, Diageo will not be sponsoring the 2026 Wireless Festival.”
By Monday afternoon, it was also reported that PayPal would withdraw from its sponsorship.
In late January, after years of sporadic and apparently unprovoked anti-Semitic outbursts — including praise for Adolf Hitler and statements that he was a Nazi — West placed a full-page ad in The Wall Street Journal He retracted a number of statements he made on social media over the past few years. In a guilty plea, the mercurial rap mogul attributed his past behavior to a brain injury, while declaring: “I love the Jewish people.”
“I lost touch with reality,” he wrote. “Things got worse the longer I ignored the problem. I said and did things that I deeply regret.” “In that torn state, I gravitated toward the most subversive symbol I could find, the swastika, and even sold T-shirts bearing it.”
In the UK, the main driver of the current protest – on top of anti-Semitic posts in the West over the years – was the release of a song called “Heil Hitler” last year, along with his sale of T-shirts on the Yeezy website bearing a swastika. Reports have emerged that the UK Conservative Party is now urging the UK Home Secretary to refuse West a visa, preventing him from performing his first shows in the country in 11 years, on the grounds that the UK reserves the right to bar individuals whose presence is not conducive to the “public good”. Meanwhile, Board of Deputies of British Jews President Phil Rosenberg said it would be a “completely wrong decision” to allow the rapper to perform, and the Campaign Against Antisemitism called for him to be banned from entering the country.
If it seems like the Brits are on the rise, keep in mind that they wouldn’t be the first to deny entry to the West – Australia previously revoked the rapper’s visa over the song “Heil Hitler” and his past anti-Semitic statements.
But despite the growing problems for Bully Starting the tour across the pond, the news in the US was more than rosy. Bully It sold a solid 56,000 physical copies in its first week and recorded over 98 million on-demand streams in the same period. At his two concerts at SoFi Stadium in Los Angeles, West literally stood on top of the world, thanks to a stunning, cutting-edge stage designed by visual artist Os Taylor. The setlist for the victory concert included favorites from across her career — “Can’t Tell Me Nothing,” “Heartless,” and “Power” — along with new material. The two nights are said to have broken records for the venue, grossing $33 million and putting it at the top of the list of potential world touring acts next year.
So the new Kanye appears to be somewhat bankable — a return, in some ways, to the old Kanye, with whom Adidas once collaborated to produce highly coveted Yeezy sneakers before the relationship collapsed in 2022 in the wake of his anti-Semitic remarks, costing the company more than $250 million in short-term profits and his status as a billionaire.
Should the reported commercial success of West’s latest endeavor be cause for forgiveness in the United States, despite a slick, marketing-timed apology — one that’s out of keeping with at least one of the many lawsuits West is currently facing, in which his legal team argues that alleged anti-Semitic slurs directed at a former Yeezy employee were part of his creative process, and not the result of bipolar disorder or a decades-old brain injury? Or, as Calle Ahlgrim says in A Business insider In the analysis, have West’s fans become more resilient after 20 years of his ups and downs?
“His brand has long been about embracing volatility and ego (or, as he puts it, ‘dragon energy’), so when he acts capricious and selfish, his fans don’t see it as a betrayal,” she wrote.
But if so, why doesn’t the same dynamic apply in the UK? There is unlikely to be a lack of fan support – Bully It debuted at No. 3 there this week, and as in Los Angeles, fans seemed ready to show up.
To understand this difference, one must look at the broader cultural context. In the United Kingdom, a recent rise in anti-Semitic incidents has led to renewed national attention to the issue. Just last week, two men and a teenager were arrested for burning ambulances run by the Jewish Community Service in north-west London.
While the UK reserves the right to refuse entry on grounds of “public interest”, the US does not normally impose such a ban on the grounds of freedom of expression. A concert performance that might contain offensive expressions is largely protected by the First Amendment.
On Monday afternoon, Melvin Penn, managing director of Wireless Festival promoter Festival Republic, shared a statement in support of West. “Having someone in my life with mental illness for the past 15 years, I have experienced many episodes of despicable behavior that I have had to forgive and move on from. If I wasn’t like that before, I have become a person of forgiveness and hope in all aspects of my life, including work. What Yee has said in the past about Jews and Hitler is as distasteful to me as it is to the Jewish community, the Prime Minister and others who have commented – and taken his words to heart – here you are now too,” he wrote.
“Ye’s music is being 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 he has a legal right to come to the country and perform in this country. He intends 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 our country’s radio stations and streaming platforms in our country and which are being listened to and enjoyed by millions.”
“Tolerance and giving people a second chance has become a lost virtue in this increasingly divided world, and I would ask people to… Consider their immediate comments of disgust at the prospect of his performance (as was the case for me) and offer him some forgiveness and hope as I decided to do.
The Wireless Festival is scheduled to take place in London’s Finsbury Park from July 10 to 12.
Hollywood Reporter She reached out to a representative for West but did not immediately receive a response Monday.
