Christopher BarrettFestival Republic is sticking by the decision to book Kanye West (Ye) as Wireless’ headliner, as the rapper addresses the controversy.
Following the withdrawal of major sponsors from the Wireless festival after Ye was announced as its headliner, promoter Melvin Benn has defended the move to book the rapper, while Ye has issued a statement in which he said he intended his show to “bring unity, peace and love”.
The 10-12 July festival in London’s Finsbury Park is set to see Ye headline all three days in what promoter Festival Republic described as “a three-night journey through his most iconic records”.
On the back of the US rapper’s previous antisemitic remarks, and releasing a song called Heil Hitler, the announcement that Ye will headline Wireless has not pleased the event’s sponsors, politicians including Keir Starmer, and Jewish organisations.
Among the sponsors to have withdrawn from the event are Diageo and Pepsi, with the latter having been the festival’s headline sponsor for more than a decade.
In a lengthy statement, Benn outlined why he stood by the booking of Ye and added context:
“I am a deeply committed anti-fascist and have been all my adult life. I lived on a kibbutz for many months in the 1970’s that was attacked on October 7th, am pro Jew and the Jewish state, while being equally committed to a Palestinian state.
“Having had a person in my life for the last 15 years who suffers from mental illness, I have witnessed many episodes of despicable behaviour that I have had to forgive and move on from. If I wasn’t before, I have become a person of forgiveness and hope 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, the Prime Minister and others that have commented and – taking him at his word – to Ye now also.
“Ye’s music is played on commercial radio stations in this country. It is available via live streams and downloads in this country without comment or vitriol from anyone and he has a legal right to come into the country and to perform in this country. He is intended to come in and perform. We are not giving him 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.
“Forgiveness and giving people a second chance are becoming a lost virtue in this ever-increasing divisive world and I would ask people to reflect on their instant comments of disgust at the likelihood of him performing (as was mine) and offer some forgiveness and hope to him as I have decided to do.”
With pre-sale tickets for the event going on sale today (7 April), Ye has issued a statement in which he said he would like to meet representatives of the Jewish community: “I know words aren’t enough – I’ll have to show change through my actions. If you’re open, I’m here.”
West has not performed in the UK for more than a decade, when he headlined Glastonbury in 2015.
Benn was interviewed at length for the AAA Backstage podcast, in which he discusses starting out in the early 1980s as a promoter working on left-wing political festivals and setting up the Workers Beer Company.