But now, Kanye \u2018Ye\u2019 West<\/a> is coming to town, and I feel a whole new level of unease stirring. Wireless Festival<\/a> has announced that West will headline all three nights<\/a> from 10 to 12 July. Apparently, taking out a full-page advertisement in the Wall Street Journal in January saying \u201cI am not a Nazi or an antisemite\u201d was enough to convince the organisers that West is the ideal choice for a north London residency. <\/p>\n The history of West\u2019s unravelling from musical genius to someone spewing vile, antisemitic statements into the internet void<\/a> is a complicated one. In 2016, he was hospitalised after his Saint Pablo tour was cancelled midway through, following an on-stage rant that quickly spread across the Internet. Previously an impassioned speaker and activist against racism in America, West pivoted: he began posing with his \u201cfriend\u201d Donald Trump and claiming slavery was a \u201cchoice\u201d. <\/p>\n Then the antisemitic conspiracy theory peddling began, culminating in West getting locked out of Twitter for threatening \u201cdeath con 3 on Jewish people,\u201d selling $20 shirts emblazoned with a swastika, and releasing a song called Heil Hitler. Along the way, Adidas pulled out of its partnership with West for his Yeezy shoes. <\/p>\n In the WSJ letter, West confirmed his diagnosis \u2014 a \u201cfrontal lobe injury\u201d to his brain from a 2002 car crash left undiagnosed until 2023, and bipolar type 1. He took accountability for his destructive period during a four-month-long manic episode in 2025, where \u201cparanoid, psychotic, and impulsive behaviour\u201d saw him gravitate to the \u201cdestructive symbol\u201d of the swastika as he \u201cdestroyed [his] life\u201d. <\/p>\n Bipolar disorder and a traumatic brain injury are serious conditions that can make people act outside of their control. West obviously endured the disorienting highs of manic periods, complete with delusions and paranoia, all while having access to his social media accounts and millions of eyeballs on him. I\u2019m genuinely glad that he is seeking therapy and medication for a much-stigmatised condition.<\/p>\n But virulent antisemitism is not a symptom you will find in the DSM-5. People live with bipolar and\/or a TBI every day and don\u2019t start threatening minorities. He has given an explanation, but it doesn\u2019t excuse him nor undo the damage that has been done. The shirts were marketed, the songs were streamed, and hate speech against Jews was normalised by a public figure with huge global influence. He is yet to show that he can be serious about making amends, or whether he is well enough to perform.<\/p>\n Then there are the allegations of sexual assault. In June 2024, West\u2019s former assistant Lauren Pisciotta filed a lawsuit alleging West sexually harassed her at work and \u201corally raped her without her consent\u201d, something West\u2019s representatives have dismissed as \u201cabsurd and outlandish\u201d. Later that year, model Jenn An sued West for allegedly sexually assaulting and strangling her on the set of a 2010 music video for La Roux. West\u2019s lawyers responded that \u201cthe emulation of sexual violence for artistic purposes is not itself sexual violence\u201d. In 2025, possibly during his manic episode, West posted \u201cI BEAT WOMEN\u201d on X in defence of P Diddy during his own lawsuit<\/a>.<\/p>\n West\u2019s letter advertisement in an American newspaper aimed at serious business people was a deeply cynical choice. Was he really apologising to the Jewish people he put at risk, or to the advertisers and investors he had previously scared away? It was timed to go to print as the ink dried on a seven-figure record deal with Gamma and the launch of his latest album, Bully. <\/p>\n The three-day gig at Wireless feels like another box-tick on a public rehabilitation tour. Despite all the handwringing from the political right over \u2018cancel culture\u2019, it\u2019s clear that, if you\u2019re famous enough, you can say anything, do anything, and still rise to the top of entertainment (or politics) if enough people in your entourage stand to benefit. A three-day festival is less pressure than an international tour, but it\u2019s in a field, not a venue set up to manage the crowds a popular and controversial figure will draw. Wireless has been silent on how it will ensure the safety of a vulnerable headliner \u2014 and failed to reassure locals that extra safeguards will be in place.<\/p>\n What about Haringey residents? Why should we have to worry over an influx of people prepared to overlook the whole sampling-an-Adolf-Hitler-speech thing? Fans who might actively enjoy the shock factor, or even agree with West\u2019s most paranoid ramblings. Even for those who are fans of his music alone<\/a>, has Wireless planned for the size of the crowds that West\u2019s first performance in the UK for a decade will draw to the park?<\/p>\n What about our Jewish neighbours, already living in fear of rising antisemitism and reeling from the arson attack on Hatzola ambulances<\/a> in Golders Green? Stamford Hill is literally right around the corner from the park. Meeting one celebrity Orthodox rabbi back in the US is hardly going to reassure London\u2019s Hassidic community that having West and his followers on their streets is safe.<\/p>\n I\u2019m not a Jew, and I cannot speak for the Jewish residents of Haringey, who may well be able to forgive West and see his three-day concert as part of his atonement process. But the UK\u2019s Jewish Leadership Council has been clear \u2014 in booking West, the Wireless festival organisers have been \u201cdeeply irresponsible\u201d. <\/p>\n \u201cHis most recent apology must be considered in the context that he went on to sell swastika T-shirts and release a song called Heil Hitler after apologising previously,\u201d the council continued. \u201cAny venue or festival should reconsider before providing their platform to Kanye West to spread his antisemitism.\u201d <\/p>\n Mayor of London Sadiq Khan\u2019s statement has, thus far, been more milquetoast. \u201cThe past comments and actions of this artist are offensive and wrong,\u201d he said, \u201cand are simply not reflective of London’s values.\u201d The decision to platform West, he added, rested with the festival organisers.<\/p>\n Seriously? After we spent last summer endlessly hounding principled artists such as Kneecap and Bob Vylan for taking a stance on Israel committing \u201cgenocide\u201d in Palestine \u2014 something Khan has agreed is happening<\/a> \u2014 we\u2019ll really let someone who has espoused violently antisemitic rhetoric waltz on stage in one of London\u2019s public parks?<\/p>\n Not that the mayor truly has the power to keep West out. Australia effectively banned him by revoking his travel visa last year. Their Minister for Home Affairs, Tony Burke, cancelled it as soon as West released Heil Hitler, stating he refused to \u201cimport hatred.\u201d <\/p>\n![](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/1ac50c2bba41ffc6cb84de725fd9ac40Y29udGVudHNlYXJjaGFwaSwxNzcwODE3ODY0-2.23451525.jpg\")
Kanye West at Glastonbury Festival 2015 (PA Archive)<\/p>\n![](\"https:\/\/static.standard.co.uk\/2023\/10\/19\/14\/Orthodox%20Jews%20Stamford%20Hill.png\")
Close to the park is Stamford Hill with a long-established Jewish community (Getty Images)<\/p>\n![](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/f7ff13ce9dc1aa0975dc3833c8bc6dc1Y29udGVudHNlYXJjaGFwaSwxNjU3NTYyMjE1-2.67832609.jpg\")
Wireless draws large crowds to the area each summer (James Manning\/PA)<\/p>\n