Wireless is facing another blow with its main sponsor pulling the plug a day after Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer branded the decision to have Kanye West headline ‘deeply concerning’
10:21, 05 Apr 2026Updated 12:09, 05 Apr 2026
(Image: Getty Images for Fast Company)
The main sponsors of Wireless have cut ties with the festival following mounting backlash surrounding headliner Kanye West. It comes after Prime Minister Keir Starmer called the decision to have the rapper perform at the Finsbury Park music festival ‘deeply concerning.’
Hours after Sir Keir’s statement, a Pepsi spokesperson told the Mirror: “Pepsi has decided to withdraw its sponsorship of Wireless Festival.”
The festival had been officially named “Pepsi MAX presents Wireless” with the brand’s partnership with the north London festival dating back to 2015. However, the relationship is no more with Pepsi distancing themselves after West was revealed as the headliner for all three three nights this July.
It marks his return to the UK music scene after an eleven-year hiatus, since headlining at Glastonbury in 2015. West 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.
Sir Keir 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.”
While celebrities have also weighed in on the decision to have West headline the UK festival. Little Britain’s Matt Lucas posted: :Have you released a song called ‘Heil Hitler’? Have you sold t-shirts with swastikas on them? Have you promised to go ‘death con 3 On JEWISH PEOPLE’? If so, congratulations! You may be eligible to headline Wireless Fest sponsored by Pepsi UK .”
The Mirror has contacted Wireless for comment.
The 48-year-old rapper’s appearance at Wireless Festival comes amid fears of growing antisemitism 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.
West apologised in January for his antisemitic comments in a letter published as a full-page advert in the Wall Street Journal newspaper. In his letter, 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”.
General tickets for the festival go on sale on April 8 with day passes priced at £140.50, while a full weekend ticket will set you back £360.50. Two-day tickets can be purchased for £256.