Pressure is mounting for American rapper Ye, formerly known as Kanye West, to be dropped as the headliner for London’s Wireless Festival.
The annual hip hop music festival is due to be held at Finsbury Park in north London from July 10 to 12 during the UK’s summer.
This comes as Pepsi withdrew as lead sponsor without providing an explicit reason for its decision.
Other sponsors, listed as partners on the official website, are being urged to follow suit. They include Budweiser and PayPal.
Diageo, whose labels Johnnie Walker and Captain Morgan were slated to be partner brands, has also reportedly pulled out.
The UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer says it is “deeply concerning” the rapper has been booked for the festival, during which he will perform in front of about 150,000 people over three days.
West officially shortened his name to Ye in 2021.
He has been trying to distance himself from widespread controversy in recent years over antisemitic remarks after voicing admiration for Adolf Hitler.
He released a song called Heil Hitler in 2025, after which he was denied entry to Australia.
Freedom of Information papers obtained by the ABC show West’s team sought to reverse this decision. His wife, Bianca Censori, is from Melbourne.
West had previously advertised a swastika T-shirt for sale on his website.
He has also unleashed a series of antisemitic posts on X, including “death con 3 on JEWISH PEOPLE”.
West apologised in 2023, before taking it back.
The 48-year-old again apologised in January via a full-page advertisement in The Wall Street Journal, attributing his behaviour to untreated bipolar I disorder.
In remarks published by The Sun on Sunday newspaper, Mr Starmer said anti-Semitism in any form was “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,” he said.
The president of the Board of Deputies of British Jews, Phil Rosenberg, said it was “absolutely the wrong decision” to allow West to perform.
It comes after two men and a 17-year-old boy were ordered to remain in custody on charges of torching four ambulances run by a Jewish community service in north-west London.
Last October, two men died in an attack on a Manchester synagogue.
West performed at a sold-out concert in Los Angeles on Friday in his first major US performance in almost five years.
ABC/AP