The U.K. government has barred Kanye West from entering the country following a backlash over a planned performance at a London music festival and the rapper’s history of antisemitism.
Event organizer Festival Republic said it was canceling Wireless Festival, scheduled for July at north London’s Finsbury Park, after the decision by the U.K. Home Office to block West from visiting the country.
The scheduled performance by West drew widespread condemnation. West, who is promoting a new album, has been trying to repair his reputation after years of controversies, including racist slurs, calls for antisemitic violence and praise for Adolf Hitler .
The government’s move to block West’s permission to travel was made on the grounds that his presence in the U.K. wouldn’t be conducive to the public good, according to a person familiar with the decision.
Several major sponsors backing the event had already pulled out after the announcement last week that West, who now goes by Ye, would headline the event. Sponsors including PepsiCo , Diageo and Anheuser-Busch InBev said they had dropped their sponsorship of the event.
West’s announcement as the festival’s headliner also drew criticism from U.K. politicians, including Prime Minister Keir Starmer , who described the booking as “deeply concerning.”
West was slated to headline all three days of the festival, which had been marketed as “Pepsi Max Presents Wireless” in promotional materials. “Pepsi has decided to withdraw its sponsorship of Wireless Festival,” the company said Sunday.
Diageo confirmed its own move later in the day. “We have informed the organizers of our concerns and as it stands, Diageo will not sponsor the 2026 Wireless festival,” the spirits and beer maker said.
Representatives for West didn’t respond to requests for comment. “My only goal is to come to London and present a show of change, bringing unity, peace, and love through my music,” Ye said in a statement circulated by the organizers before cancellation of the festival.
Melvin Benn , managing director of Festival Republic, which runs Wireless, has previously defended the decision to book West. undefined undefined “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,” Benn said.
In January, West took out a full-page ad in The Wall Street Journal to apologize for offensive statements. He said he was “deeply mortified” by his actions, which he blamed on his bipolar disorder and that he was working to find a new “baseline” through a regimen of medication, therapy, exercise and clean living.
West’s controversies prior to that letter destroyed much of the corporate empire that had made him a billionaire. A social-media post threatening “death con 3” on Jewish people resulted in Adidas ending a partnership with the rapper and talent agency CAA dropping him as a client in 2022. Last year, he released a song that glorified Hitler.
The multiplatinum-selling rapper and producer has won 24 Grammys, topped music charts around the world and been hailed as a generational talent.
The Campaign Against Antisemitism said the U.K. government had made the right decision in barring West.
“Someone who has boasted of making tens of millions of dollars from selling swastika t-shirts and who released a song called ‘Heil Hitler’ just months ago clearly would not be conducive to the public good in the U.K.,” a spokesman said.
Write to Gareth Vipers at gareth.vipers@wsj.com
