The Wireless Festival organiser has described Kanye West’s past anti-Semitic remarks as “abhorrent”, but has called on people to “offer some forgiveness”.
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The controversial rapper, who now goes by Ye, was announced last week as the headliner for all three nights of the festival in London’s Finsbury Park in July, with the shows being described as a three-night journey through his “most iconic records”.
The booking has prompted widespread criticism, including from Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer, who said it is “deeply concerning that Kanye West has been booked to perform at Wireless despite his previous anti-Semitic remarks and celebration of Nazism”.
A series of festival sponsors have also cut their ties with Wireless as a result, including Pepsi, drinks giant Diageo, PayPal and Rockstar Energy, piling enormous pressure on the festival to take action.
Now, Melvin Benn, the managing director of Festival Republic, which co-promotes Wireless alongside Live Nation, has issued a statement on the controversy, heavily criticising Ye’s historic comments but calling for “forgiveness and hope”.
“I am a deeply committed anti-fascist and have been all my adult life,” his statement began. “I lived on a kibbutz for many months in the 1970s 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.”
Benn continued: “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.”
He concluded: “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.”
West’s history of making anti-Semitic remarks dates back to 2022, when he made a series of offensive comments on social media. Those remarks saw his accounts on both Instagram and Twitter suspended, and the musician was dropped by his lawyer, talent agency and record label, along with fashion brands such as Balenciaga and Adidas.
At first, West gave several interviews refusing to apologise for making the comments while suggesting that Jewish people should “forgive Hitler”. However, in 2023, West would deliver an apology to the Jewish community, going on to blame alcohol for his behaviour the following year.
In the wake of that initial apology, numerous lawsuits were filed against the rapper with claims of extensive anti-Semitic behaviour. One former employee alleged that the rapper said Jewish people were “working together to hold him back”.
Another former employee claimed he used anti-Semitic language in the workplace and praised Hitler – something for which he allegedly paid a settlement for. In 2024, a separate ex-employee accused him of being openly anti-Semitic in front of his staff.
West would share a number of highly controversial posts in early 2025, when he took back an apology he previously made to the Jewish community for anti-Semitic remarks, and then declared himself “a Nazi”. West then claimed on X/Twitter that, “after further reflection”, he’d “come to the realisation that I’m not a Nazi”, followed only a few days later by yet more swastika apparel appearing on his X page.
West has since apologised for his actions by meeting with a rabbi and taking out a full-page ad in the Wall Street Journal broadcasting a separate apology.
As well as the Prime Minister, London Mayor Sadiq Khan has also spoken out against the decision to book Ye, as have groups including the Jewish Leadership Council and the Campaign Against Anti-Semitism.
This morning (April 6), Sajid David, the former Chancellor of the Exchequer and current chair of the Holocaust Memorial Day Trust, also condemned Wireless for booking West, and said he was “certain” the Home Secretary would stop the rapper from entering the UK if Wireless didn’t cancel the shows.
It also emerged today that Ye’s right to enter the UK was under government review.
The post Wireless organiser defends Kanye West booking, calling past comments “abhorrent” but urging “forgiveness” appeared first on NME.
