Wireless Festival cancelled after Home Office blocks Kanye West
Organisers have canned this year’s Wireless Festival after its headline act Kanye West was blocked from travelling to the UK by the Home Office.
The rapper was scheduled to play at the popular festival in north London this summer but West, who changed his name to Ye, will be blocked from travelling to the UK amid controversy over his antisemitic statements.
The decision to ban the artist from entering the country was reportedly made on the grounds that his presence would not be conducive to the public good.
Festival Republic, the promoter of Wireless, issued a statement reading: “As with every Wireless Festival, multiple stakeholders were consulted in advance of booking YE and no concerns were highlighted at the time.
“Antisemitism in all its forms is abhorrent, and we recognise the real and personal impact these issues have had. As YE said today, he acknowledges that words alone are not enough, and in spite of this still hopes to be given the opportunity to begin a conversation with the Jewish community in the UK.”
West has won multiple Grammy awards but in recent has made a series of antisemitic and offensive remarks.
He released a song titled ‘Heil Hitler’ and sold T-shirts with swastikas on them.
He blamed mental health issues for his repeated comments and said in a statement released on Tuesday that he would “show change through my actions”.
The ‘Runaway’ artist also offered to meet Jewish community leaders when in the UK.
Government praised for decision
Responding to the travel ban, a spokesperson for Campaign Against Antisemitism said: “The government has clearly made the right decision here.
“For once, when it said that antisemitism has no place in the UK, it backed up its words with action.
“Wireless Festival, in its desperate quest for profit, defended the invitation until the end. That is shameful, and its sponsors should continue to stay away.”
Wireless bosses had come under pressure to remove him from the list of acts after the likes of Pepsi and Diageo pulled their sponsorship of the festival.
Wireless boss defends booking
Its boss Melvin Benn doubled down on the decision to book West, adding he was “not giving [Ye] a platform to extol opinion of whatever nature, only to perform the songs that are currently played on the radio stations in our country and the streaming platforms in our country and listened to and enjoyed by millions”.
Benn said: “I am a deeply committed anti-fascist and have been all my adult life. I lived on a kibbutz for many months in the 1970s that was attacked on 7 October [2023], am pro-Jew and the Jewish state, while being equally committed to a Palestinian state.
“What Ye has said in the past about Jews and Hitler is as abhorrent to me as it is to the Jewish community, the prime minister and others that have commented and – taking him at his word – to Ye now also.”