{"id":386434,"date":"2026-04-07T14:08:11","date_gmt":"2026-04-07T14:08:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/386434\/"},"modified":"2026-04-07T14:08:11","modified_gmt":"2026-04-07T14:08:11","slug":"kanye-west-blocked-from-u-k-entry-to-wireless-festival","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/386434\/","title":{"rendered":"Kanye West Blocked From U.K. Entry to Wireless Festival"},"content":{"rendered":"

\n\tUPDATE: The U.K. government has blocked Kanye West<\/a> from entering the U.K., where he was due to headline the Wireless Festival<\/a>, according to the BBC<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\n\tThe Home Office has reportedly rejected West\u2019s application for an Electronic Travel Authorisation after it was made yesterday on the grounds \u201chis presence would not be conducive to the public good.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tPREVIOUSLY:<\/p>\n

\n\tKanye West has offered to meet members of the Jewish community in the U.K. following the furor over his headline booking at this year\u2019s Wireless Festival, as sponsors continued to flee and politicians maintained their pressure on the government to bar his entry.<\/p>\n

\n\tIn a statement obtained by Variety, the rapper \u2013 who also goes by Ye \u2013 said he had been \u201cfollowing the conversation around Wireless and want to address it directly.\u201d He said his \u201conly goal is to come to London and present a show of change, bringing unity, peace, and love through my music,\u201d and offered to meet community members in person \u201cto listen,\u201d adding: \u201cI know words aren\u2019t enough \u2013 I\u2019ll have to show change through my actions. If you\u2019re open, I\u2019m here.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tMeanwhile, the commercial fallout from his July 10\u201312 booking at Finsbury Park showed no sign of slowing. Presenting partner Pepsi \u2013 which had co-branded the event as \u201cPepsi MAX Presents Wireless\u201d for over a decade \u2013 confirmed its withdrawal, followed by Diageo, Rockstar Energy and PayPal<\/a>, which will no longer allow its branding in the festival\u2019s promotional materials.<\/p>\n

\n\tWest, who released a song called \u201cHeil Hitler\u201d last year, published a full-page apology in the Wall Street Journal in January, attributing his behavior to manic episodes caused by bipolar disorder. But the gesture has not satisfied critics. Phil Rosenberg, president of the Board of Deputies of British Jews, said that a statement from Wireless managing director Melvin Benn defending the booking \u201cwill not reassure many within the Jewish or other communities.\u201d Benn, who issued his defense to Variety<\/a>, described himself as a \u201cdeeply committed anti-fascist\u201d and urged the public to offer West \u201cforgiveness and hope\u201d \u2013 a stance the Campaign Against Antisemitism rejected, accusing the promoter of \u201cprofiteering from racism.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tActor David Schwimmer also weighed in, thanking Pepsi, PayPal and Diageo on Instagram for withdrawing and urging remaining sponsors to follow. \u201cI believe in forgiveness, but it takes much more than this,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\n\tSeparately, Jonah Hill told \u201cThe Zane Lowe Show\u201d<\/a> it was \u201cbizarre\u201d when West posted in 2023 that watching Hill\u2019s performance in \u201c21 Jump Street\u201d had made him \u201clike Jewish people again\u201d \u2013 while also calling West \u201cthe greatest artist to ever live.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"UPDATE: The U.K. government has blocked Kanye West from entering the U.K., where he was due to headline…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":386435,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[28],"tags":[93,61,60,26614,278,170948],"class_list":{"0":"post-386434","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-music","8":"tag-entertainment","9":"tag-ie","10":"tag-ireland","11":"tag-kanye-west","12":"tag-music","13":"tag-wireless-festival"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/386434","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=386434"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/386434\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/386435"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=386434"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=386434"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=386434"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}