Pepsi drops sponsorship of London music festival headlined by Ye
Michael D. Shear
London: Pepsi said Sunday it is withdrawing its sponsorship of the three-day Wireless Festival held in London this summer and headlined by rapper Ye, formerly known as Kanye West.
Ye’s participation in the festival was part of the artist’s effort to distance himself from half a decade of anti-Semitic and racist debates.
Pepsi’s decision came just hours after Prime Minister Keir Starmer said he was “deeply concerned” about Ye performing at what organizers called London’s “best summer music festival”.
“Anti-Semitism in all its forms is abhorrent and must be harshly opposed wherever it occurs,” Starmer said. Sun newspaper in an article published on Sunday morning. “It is everyone’s responsibility to ensure that Britain is a place where Jewish people feel safe.”
The festival was advertised as “PEPSI PRESENTS WIRELESS”. However, a statement released by the company on Sunday said: “Pepsi has decided to withdraw its sponsorship of the Wireless Festival.”
It’s unclear what Pepsi’s decision will mean for the festival, whose website also lists Budweiser, PayPal, Beatbox and several other major companies as corporate “partners.”
Earlier this year, you apologized for recent anti-Semitic behavior, including posting “Death Scam 3 on the Jewish People” and doing an interview wearing what appeared to be a Black Ku Klux Klan robe. He said in an advertisement Wall StreetJournal He said he hoped to be forgiven by “those I hurt.”
Since then, the rapper has been trying to return to public view in ways that won’t cause controversy. On Wednesday and Friday, Ye performed at SoFi Stadium near Los Angeles to promote the release of his new album. Rowdy. In addition to his performance at the London festival, he is also scheduled to perform in Italy and Spain this summer.
But the rapper’s public efforts at rehabilitation have sparked the anger of many famous people in Britain. Ed Davey, leader of the Liberal Democrats, said last week that Britain’s “home secretary should ban him from coming to this country”.
It is unclear whether Ye has applied for entry into Britain.
For Starmer, the issue of antisemitism is a personal matter.
Before becoming Prime Minister, he made his name in politics by promising to purge the Labor Party of antisemitism from its ranks. Starmer, a former human rights lawyer, helped oust former Labor leader Jeremy Corbyn, who was accused of “unlawful acts of harassment and discrimination” against Jewish members of the party. Additionally, Starmer’s wife Victoria is Jewish.
Starmer has been under pressure since becoming prime minister to do more to tackle antisemitic attacks and harassment in the country, which has risen sharply since the war in the Gaza Strip began in 2023. Last year’s terrorist attack on a synagogue in Manchester, England, increased this pressure.
But the prime minister has also been criticized by Palestinian activists, including members of his own party, who want him to show stronger support for their security in Britain.
Starmer’s comments on Sunday revealed that the prime minister did not believe Ye’s latest apology was sincere.
The rapper apologized for his “deathcon” comment and other behavior in a 2023 social media post written in Hebrew, saying “it was not my intention to offend or demean.”
But in February last year, he withdrew his apology with an expletive-filled remark on social media in which he declared himself a Nazi and confessed his love for Adolf Hitler.
“I never apologize for my Jewish comments,” he said on the social platform X, formerly known as Twitter.
In his latest apology, Ye blamed his actions on untreated bipolar I disorder, caused by a brain injury he suffered in a car accident in 2002. However, he said that he was diagnosed with autism in 2025.
New York Times
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