Pressure from MPs and Jewish groups is mounting to cancel Kanye West’s appearance at Wireless Festival and prevent him from entering the UK over his previous antisemitic comments.
The US star, now known as Ye, released a song called Heil Hitler and sold swastika T-shirts last year before apologising and blaming his bipolar disorder’s episodes of manic behaviour.
He is due to play at the London event in July – but two sponsors withdrew on Sunday, while Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer called the booking “deeply concerning”.
The Conservative Party has urged the government to refuse him a visa because “allowing someone with his track record to headline a major public event sends entirely the wrong message”.
Shadow home secretary Chris Philp said West’s past antisemitic actions were “not a one-off lapse, but a pattern of behaviour that has caused real offence and distress to Jewish communities”.
Education Secretary Bridget Phillipson said West’s past comments were “completely unacceptable and absolutely disgusting” and that the rapper should not appear at the festival.
“There is no place for that kind of hatred, bigotry or antisemitism from him or from anyone else,” she said.
However, she said she could not comment on whether the government would block his visa.
West is due to headline all three nights of Wireless, which is expected to attract 50,000 people per day, in Finsbury Park, north London, from 10-12 July.
The first tickets were available in a PayPal pre-sale last week, with another pre-sale due to begin on Tuesday, before tickets go on general sale on Wednesday.
On Sunday, the festival’s headline sponsor Pepsi pulled out, while fellow drinks giant Diageo also removed its support “as it stands”.
It has since emerged that PayPal, which is a payment partner for Wireless, will no longer allow its branding to be used on promotional material for the festival.
Australia cancelled West’s visa after he released Heil Hitler last May.
Michael Weiger, chief executive of the Board of Deputies of British Jews, said the UK should now follow suit.
“We think that would be a very appropriate step were the home secretary to find a way to not allow him into the country,” he said.
The Board of Deputies accused Wireless Festival, its parent company Festival Republic and managing director Melvin Benn of “profiteering from racism”.
Festival Republic and Benn have not responded to requests for comment.
The Home Office said it did not have any comment to add to the prime minister’s remarks.
Sir Keir said on Sunday that antisemitism was “abhorrent and must be confronted firmly wherever it appears”, and that “everyone has a responsibility to ensure Britain is a place where Jewish people feel safe”.
Meanwhile, Stephen Silverman from the Campaign Against Antisemitism (CAA) called the booking “astonishing”.
“It’s great that sponsors are now doing the right thing and withdrawing their support, but how it could have conceivably been considered the right thing to do to headline an artist who, less than a year ago, released a music video for a song called Heil Hitler?” he told BBC Radio 5Live.
‘PR disaster’
With the festival likely to struggle without a major sponsor, the Guardian’s music editor Ben Beaumont-Thomas said organisers may decide to cancel.
“They probably could take the financial hit, but it would be a big financial hit,” he told Radio 4. “Already it’s a PR disaster for them, and I wouldn’t be surprised if they did cancel it altogether.”
West’s new album is currently number two in the US album chart and number three in the UK, and he played two sold-out stadium shows in Los Angeles this weekend.
The Times music critic Lisa Verrico told 5Live: “He can certainly sell out shows wherever he likes, if he’s allowed to play. The problem is, in the past, I think you wouldn’t give a public platform to someone that problematic.”
But many people still love his music, she added. “That’s why his streaming stats are so high and why, if he does play at Wireless, it will sell out straight away.”
Haringey Council, which oversees Finsbury Park, said it would seek assurances that Festival Republic will remind all artists of a licensing condition that “performing acts do not offend or denigrate any race or religion”.
Meanwhile, the Sun reported that Tottenham Hotspur FC had refused to let West perform at their north London stadium.
West apology
West has caused outrage for a string of antisemitic and pro-Nazi comments in recent years.
These include posting an image appearing to show a symbol combining a swastika and the Star of David and saying he would go “death con 3 On Jewish people”.
This January, the rapper apologised in a full-page advertisement in the Wall Street Journal, writing: “I am not a Nazi or an antisemite.”
He said bipolar disorder meant when “you’re manic, you don’t think you’re sick” and that he had “lost touch with reality”.
“I regret and am deeply mortified by my actions in that state,” he added.
