British Concert Promoter Says He’s Keeping Ye Despite Loss of Biggest Sponsors

Jewish communities in the United Kingdom are expressing deep disappointment in the managing director of a three-day music festival who has decided to keep headliner Kanye West at the top of the lineup despite losing the event’s two largest sponsors as a result. PepsiUK and spirits brand Diageo announced over the weekend that they were pulling support for the Wireless Festival to be held at London this July after Mr. West, who has a history of rabidly antisemitic statements and actions, was named the headliner for all three nights.The decision to feature Mr. West, who goes by the name Ye, caused an uproar in Britain, with several high-profile figures, including Prime minister Keir Starmer, mayor of London, Sadiq Khan, and the head of the Liberal Democratic Party, Ed Davey, calling it a mistake. Mr. Davey suggested that Mr. West be banned from entry.Late Monday, however, concert producer Melvin Benn, who has featured other antisemitic acts like Irish punk group, Kneecap, said he would not remove Mr. West from the lineup. “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 said in a statement.Issuing the statement in which he declared himself pro-Jew, supportive of a two-state solution with the Palestinians, and a former resident of a kibbutz that was attacked on Oct. 7, 2023, Mr. Benn added that while he finds Mr. West’s comments about Jews and Adolph Hitler “abhorrent,” he is familiar with the travails that Mr. West claims to suffer.“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,” he said, noting that Mr. West has disavowed his comments. “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.” The British-born events promoter, who has been called “one of the founding fathers of the U.K. festival industry” has served as the head of major outdoor festivals such as the Glastonbury, Reading, and Leeds festivals. He was chairman of the board of London’s Wembley Stadium and is known for producing “overtly political” festivals for trade unions and fundraising organizations.In 2025, he defended the appearance of the Irish hip-hop trio Kneecap, which most recently performed at Havana, Cuba, at the Electric Picnic festival while the group was under investigation by British police for displaying the terrorist group Hezbollah’s flag at a London concert in 2024. Mr. Benn said at the time that he would not cut the bandmembers’ microphones because “they’ve got really important songs, they’re brilliant live, but they’ve also got really important messages.” Jewish organizations called Mr. Benn’s decision “a clear failure to understand the issue at hand.” “While his sponsors are abandoning his festival as they rightly decide not to profit from racism, Benn has chosen to stick by an individual responsible for spreading antisemitism to his vast audience,” said the U.K.-based Jewish Leadership Council. “Given West’s repetition of vile Jew hatred after a previous apology, Benn appears to be either naive or willfully gaslighting the British public by his attempt to claim West’s racism is no longer an issue.”The deputy editor of Jewish News UK, Daniel Sugarman, added that he found Mr. Benn’s comments “sickening.”“The fact that Mr Benn lived on a Kibbutz half a century ago is irrelevant. I don’t care if your uncle was David Ben-Gurion’s calisthenics instructor or Golda Meir’s tobacconist. Your socialist utopia gap yah doesn’t give you some magical credentials to weigh in here,” he posted on X.“Forgiveness here is not for Mr. Benn to bestow. Kanye West did not target him,” he added, saying that Mr. West was not invited to headline the festival “because they believe in the magical power of forgiveness for mental health. They invited him because they sought to financially gain. Painting this now as some sort of #bekind thing insults anyone with a brain.”As recently as last year, Mr. West, who has made a sizable fortune off his multi-plantinum discography, concert appearances, and commercial partnerships, uploaded a song to YouTube called “Heil Hitler,” which received 6.5 million views in one day. The song was released on the 80th anniversary of Nazi Germany’s defeat. In January, he issued one of several apologies timed to his album releases, writing in the Wall Street Journal that he does not hate Jews but suffers from a traumatic brain disorder and bipolar disease. Preparing for a European tour that begins next month, Mr. West has not yet commented on the dispute over his coming appearance.

British Concert Promoter Says He’s Keeping Ye Despite Loss of Biggest Sponsors

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