Pressure mounts over UK festival's Kanye West booking

Jewish groups and MPs have called on the Wireless Festival to cancel Kanye West's headline booking and for the government to ban the US rapper from the UK over his history of antisemitism.

The star, now known as Ye, released a song called Heil Hitler and sold swastika T-shirts last year before apologising and blaming his bipolar disorder.

He is due to play at the London event in July - but two sponsors withdrew on Sunday. Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer called the booking "deeply concerning".

Stephen Silverman from the Campaign Against Antisemitism (CAA) said on Monday that the booking was "astonishing". Labour MP Rachael Maskell said "we cannot allow these performers to have a platform".

Maskell told BBC Radio 4's Today programme: "That's why it's absolutely right that the prime minister has said the Wireless Festival should cancel this performer, but also he should not be allowed to come to our country to perform in the light of the antisemitic comments that he has made and recorded."

Sir Keir had said that antisemitism was "abhorrent and must be confronted firmly wherever it appears", and that "everyone has a responsibility to ensure Britain is a place where Jewish people feel safe".

Following the prime minister's comments on Sunday, the festival's headline sponsor Pepsi pulled out, while fellow drinks giant Diageo also removed its support "as it stands".

It has since emerged that PayPal, which is a payment partner for Wireless, will no longer allow its branding to be used on promotional material for the festival.

Silverman, the CAA's director of investigations and enforcement, said many Jews had reacted "with shock and they were appalled" by the festival's decision to book West.

"It's great that sponsors are now doing the right thing and withdrawing their support, but how it could have conceivably been considered the right thing to do to headline an artist who, less than a year ago, released a music video for a song called Heil Hitler?" he told BBC Radio 5Live.

Some have called on the government to refuse West entry to the UK.

Michael Weiger, chief executive of the Board of Deputies of British Jews, said: "We think that would be a very appropriate step were the home secretary to find a way to not allow him into the country."

The Board of Deputies accused Wireless Festival, its parent company Festival Republic and managing director Melvin Benn of "profiteering from racism".

It also pointed to Wireless's own charter, which says the festival does not tolerate discrimination on grounds including religion and that "discriminatory words or actions have no place" at the event.

Festival Republic and Benn have not responded to requests for comment.

The Home Office said it did not have any comment to add to the prime minister's remarks.

West is due to headline all three nights of the event, which is expected to attract 50,000 people per day, in Finsbury Park, north London, from 10-12 July.

The first tickets were available in a PayPal pre-sale last week, with another pre-sale due to begin on Tuesday, before tickets go on general sale on Wednesday.

The Guardian's music editor Ben Beaumont-Thomas said organisers may decide to cancel, with the festival likely to struggle without a major sponsor.

"They probably could take the financial hit, but it would be a big financial hit," he told Radio 4. "Already it's a PR disaster for them, and I wouldn't be surprised if they did cancel it altogether."

West's new album is currently number two in the US album chart and number three in the UK, and he played two sold-out stadium shows in Los Angeles this weekend.

Sunday Times music critic Lisa Verrico told 5Live: "He can certainly sell out shows wherever he likes, if he's allowed to play. The problem is, in the past, I think you wouldn't give a public platform to someone that problematic."

But many people still love his music, she added. "That's why his streaming stats are so high and why, if he does play at Wireless, it will sell out straight away."

West has caused outrage with a string of antisemitic and pro-Nazi comments in recent years, including posting an image appearing to show a symbol combining a swastika and the Star of David and saying he would go "death con 3 On Jewish people".

Australia cancelled his visa after he released Heil Hitler in May.

This January, the rapper apologised in a full-page advertisement in the Wall Street Journal, writing: "I am not a Nazi or an antisemite."

He said bipolar disorder meant when "you're manic, you don't think you're sick" and that he had "lost touch with reality".

"I regret and am deeply mortified by my actions in that state," he added.