The company behind Johnnie Walker and Captain Morgan drinks brands has joined Pepsi in withdrawing its sponsorship of Wireless festival after it announced Kanye West as the headline act.
Main sponsor Pepsi announced earlier on Sunday it would withdraw support for the festival, which is due to take place in July at Finsbury Park, north London.
Now, drinks giant Diageo announced it too would withdraw support.
A spokesperson told ITV News on Sunday evening: “We have informed the organisers of our concerns and as it stands, Diageo will not sponsor the 2026 Wireless festival.”
It comes after Prime Minister Keir Starmer called the decision to book West, also known as Ye, “deeply concerning.”
The rapper has drawn widespread criticism in recent years after he began voicing admiration for Adolf Hitler and made a series of antisemitic remarks.
Last year, he released a song called “Heil Hitler”, only a few months after advertising a Swastika T-shirt for sale on his website.
As first reported by The Sun on Sunday, the Prime Minister said: “It is deeply concerning that Kanye West has been booked to perform at Wireless despite his previous antisemitic remarks and celebration of Nazism.
“Antisemitism in any form is abhorrent and must be confronted clearly and firmly wherever it appears. Everyone has a responsibility to ensure Britain is a place where Jewish people feel safe and secure.”
The musician apologised in January for his antisemitic remarks in a letter published as a full-page advert in the Wall Street Journal newspaper.
In his letter, he apologised to Jewish and black people.
He said his bipolar disorder led him to fall into “a four-month-long, manic episode of psychotic, paranoid and impulsive behaviour that destroyed my life”.
Phil Rosenberg, president of the Board of Deputies of British Jews, said it was “absolutely the wrong decision” to allow West to play.
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The 48-year-old rapper’s appearance at Wireless Festival comes as fears of antisemitism grow within the UK.
In March, four ambulances from a Jewish community-run service were set on fire in north-west London.
Two men and a 17-year-old boy were remanded in custody on Saturday after appearing in court accused of torching the vehicles.
In October last year, two men were killed in an attack on a Manchester synagogue.
ITV News has approached Wireless Festival for comment.
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