Wireless Festival canceled after UK bars rapper Ye, formerly known as Kanye West, over antisemitic remarks

The rapper formerly known as Kanye West was on Tuesday banned from entering the United Kingdom, where he was scheduled to headline the Wireless festival in July, following backlash over Yee’s history of anti-Semitic remarks.

Festival organizers canceled the three-day outdoor event as a result of the travel ban and said those who bought tickets would receive a refund.

Yee was granted an electronic travel authorization, which has now been withdrawn on the grounds that his presence in the UK “would not serve the public interest,” the BBC said, citing the Home Office.

The rapper, who changed his name in 2021, was expected to play his first UK dates in more than a decade in front of around 150,000 revelers over three nights from July 10-12 at the Wireless Festival, in London’s Finsbury Park. No other acts have been announced for the festival yet.

Event organizers have come under increasing pressure from sponsors and politicians to cancel concerts by the rapper, who has drawn widespread condemnation for making anti-Semitic statements and expressing admiration for Adolf Hitler.

Last year, Ye released a song called “Heil Hitler” and announced the sale of a swastika T-shirt on his website. The 48-year-old apologized in January in a letter that ran as a full-page ad in the Wall Street Journal. He said his bipolar disorder led him to fall into a “four-month manic episode of psychotic, paranoid, and reckless behavior that destroyed my life.”

Wireless sponsors Pepsi, Rockstar Energy and Diageo have withdrawn from the festival since Ye was announced as headliner.

Prime Minister Keir Starmer described the booking as “deeply concerning”, and Health Minister Wes Streeting said on Tuesday that Ye should “not play at all” at the festival.

In a statement issued on Tuesday before his travel permit was revoked, Yee said he “would be grateful for the opportunity to meet and hear from members of the UK Jewish community in person.”

“I know that words are not enough, I must show change through my actions,” he said. “If you’re open, I’m here.”

Phil Rosenberg, president of the Board of Deputies of British Jews, said the group would be willing to meet the musician if he pulled out of the festival.

“The Jewish community will want to see real remorse and change before believing that the place to test that sincerity is on the main stage at the Wireless Festival,” Rosenberg said.

Organizer Festival Republic has stood by Ye. In a statement issued on Monday, managing director Melvin Penn urged people to offer “tolerance and hope” to the artist.

The statement read: “We do not give him a platform to glorify opinion, whatever its nature, only to perform songs that are currently being played on radio stations in our country and streaming platforms in our country and which are listened to and enjoyed by millions.”

Announcing the cancellation, Festival Republic said that “multiple stakeholders were consulted prior to booking Ye and no concerns were highlighted at the time.

“Antisemitism in all its forms is abhorrent, and we recognize the real and personal impact of these issues,” she said in a statement. “As Yee said today, he acknowledges that words alone are not enough, yet he remains hopeful that he will be given the opportunity to start a conversation with the UK Jewish community.”

The Community Security Foundation, which works to protect British Jews, said the government had made the right decision.

“Hatred against Jews should have no place in society, and cultural leaders have a role to play in ensuring that this happens,” she said in a statement.

“People who show genuine and meaningful remorse for past anti-Semitic behavior will always receive a sympathetic hearing from the Jewish community, but that process must come before this kind of public rehabilitation.”

A representative for Ye did not respond to a request for comment.