PayPal will not feature on any branding for Wireless Festival this year or moving forwards, it is understood by ITV News. <\/p>\n
It comes as drinks giants Pepsi and Diageo both withdrew their sponsorship of the London festival after it announced Kanye West as its headline act.<\/p>\n
West has drawn widespread criticism in recent years after he began voicing admiration for Adolf Hitler and made a series of antisemitic remarks.<\/p>\n
Pepsi announced on Sunday it would withdraw support for the festival, which is due to take place in July at Finsbury Park, north London.<\/p>\n
This was then followed by Diageo, the company behind Johnnie Walker and Captain Morgan drinks brands. <\/p>\n
A Diageo spokesperson told ITV News on Sunday evening: \u201cWe have informed the organisers of our concerns and as it stands, Diageo will not sponsor the 2026 Wireless festival.\u201d<\/p>\n
PayPal is not an official sponsor of Wireless, but offers early access to tickets as the payments partner of Live Nation UK Festivals. <\/p>\n
On Sunday Prime Minister Keir Starmer called the decision to book rapper West, also known as Ye, \u201cdeeply concerning”. <\/p>\n
As first reported by The Sun on Sunday, the PM said: \u201cIt is deeply concerning that Kanye West has been booked to perform at Wireless despite his previous antisemitic remarks and celebration of Nazism.<\/p>\n
\u201cAntisemitism 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.\u201d<\/p>\n
Last year West released a song called \u201cHeil Hitler\u201d, only a few months after advertising a Swastika T-shirt for sale on his website.<\/p>\n
The musician apologised in January for his antisemitic remarks<\/a> in a letter published as a full-page advert in the Wall Street Journal newspaper.<\/p>\n In his letter, he apologised to Jewish and black people.<\/p>\n He said his bipolar disorder led him to fall into \u201ca four-month-long, manic episode of psychotic, paranoid and impulsive behaviour that destroyed my life\u201d.<\/p>\n Phil Rosenberg, president of the Board of Deputies of British Jews, said it was \u201cabsolutely the wrong decision\u201d to allow West to play.<\/p>\n