Wireless Festival boss drops wild defence of Kanye West headliner after five sponsors pull out

The backlash surrounding Kanye West’s appearance at Wireless Festival is still ongoing, and now the managing director has offered his thoughts on the controversial headliner.

Kanye’s fall from popularity has been a long journey, from forcing his wife to walk the red carpet naked, to his viral betrayal list with icons like Curious George – yes, the monkey. It all culminated in a Twitter crashout, where he made dozens of overtly pro-Nazi statements. Brands then ditched him left, right, and centre, including Vogue, Universal Music Group, CAA, Balenciaga, Gap, and Adidas.

Though Kanye has since apologised, the news of him headlining Wireless came as a massive shock to everyone.

“It’s great to see companies with moral clarity. Unlike Wireless and Festival Republic, they decided not to platform an artist who became one of the most recognisable hate-mongering bigots in the world,” former Friends star David Schwimmer said.

The Board of Deputies of British Jews also said: “We are willing to meet Kanye West as part of his journey of healing, but only after he agrees not to play the Wireless Festival this year.”

Pepsi, Diageo, PayPal, and Rockstar Energy have all cut ties with Wireless Festival following the announcement of Kanye West as a headliner. pic.twitter.com/jNFuRGh2n0

— Pop Crave (@PopCrave) April 6, 2026

Wireless Festival will not be cancelling Kanye West’s show

After a malestrom of backlash, Wireless Festival’s biggest sponsors pulled out of the event. Those ditching the gig included Pepsi, Diageo, PayPal, AB InBev, and Rockstar Energy. Though many hoped it would force Wireless to ditch Kanye West, that wasn’t the case.

Melvin Benn, managing director at Festival Republic, said: “What Ye has said in the past about Jews and Hitler is as abhorrent to me as it is to the Jewish community.

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“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 also asked people to “reflect … and offer some forgiveness and hope to him as I have decided to do.”

🚨 BREAKING: Wireless Festival will keep Kanye West as its headliner

Melvin Benn, the Managing Director of Festival Republic, said:

"I am a deeply committed anti-fascist and have been all my adult life. I lived on a kibbutz for many months in the 1970’s that was attacked on…

— Politics UK (@PolitlcsUK) April 6, 2026

I wouldn’t say his statement did anything to quell the rising storm, as one person recalled: “So after a summer of acts being cancelled due to Palestine flags, we’re now heading in to summer 2026 with ‘deeply committed anti-fascists’ headlining someone who has a song called Heil Hitler… Got it. The fascist c**ts have taken over lads, it’s over.”

“He doesn’t want to pay out for him not to play. This is an economy decision, wrapped up in moral language,” another said.

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Featured image credit: Vianney Le Caer/Shutterstock and Javier Rojas/PI via ZUMA Press Wire/Shutterstock