{"id":8462,"date":"2026-04-07T14:09:13","date_gmt":"2026-04-07T14:09:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/8462\/"},"modified":"2026-04-07T14:09:13","modified_gmt":"2026-04-07T14:09:13","slug":"major-music-festival-canceled-after-rapper-ye-blocked-from-entry-into-uk","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/8462\/","title":{"rendered":"Major music festival canceled after rapper Ye blocked from entry into UK"},"content":{"rendered":"

LONDON (AP) \u2014 The rapper formerly known as Kanye West<\/a> was barred Tuesday from entering the U.K., where he was scheduled to headline the Wireless Festival<\/a> in July, after a backlash over Ye\u2019s history of antisemitic remarks. <\/p>\n

Festival organizers canceled the three-day outdoor event as a result of the travel ban and said those who had bought tickets would get refunds.<\/p>\n

Ye had been granted an electronic travel authorization which has now been withdrawn on the grounds that his presence in the U.K. would not be \u201cconducive to the public good,\u201d the BBC said, citing the Home Office.<\/p>\n

The rapper, who changed his name in 2021, had been expected to play his first U.K. dates for more than a decade in front of around 150,000 revelers over three nights July 10-12 at the Wireless Festival, in London\u2019s Finsbury Park. Other acts for the festival had not yet been announced.<\/p>\n

The event\u2019s organizers had been under mounting pressure from sponsors and politicians to cancel the gigs by the rapper, who has drawn widespread condemnation<\/a> for making antisemitic remarks and voicing admiration for Adolf Hitler.<\/p>\n

Last year, Ye released a song called \u201cHeil Hitler\u201d and advertised a swastika T-shirt for sale on his website. The 48-year-old apologized in January with a letter, published as a full-page advertisement in The Wall Street Journal. He said his bipolar disorder led him to fall into \u201ca four-month long, manic episode of psychotic, paranoid and impulsive behavior that destroyed my life.\u201d<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

\"Ye,<\/p>\n

<\/a><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

\"Kanye<\/p>\n

<\/a><\/p>\n

Wireless sponsors Pepsi, Rockstar Energy and Diageo pulled out of the festival<\/a> since Ye was announced as the headliner.<\/p>\n

Prime Minister Keir Starmer called the booking \u201cdeeply concerning,\u201d and Health Secretary Wes Streeting said Tuesday that Ye should \u201cabsolutely not\u201d play at the festival.<\/p>\n

In a statement issued Tuesday before his travel authorization was revoked, Ye said he \u201cwould be grateful for the opportunity to meet with members of the Jewish community in the U.K. in person, to listen.<\/p>\n

\u201cI know words aren\u2019t enough \u2014 I\u2019ll have to show change through my actions,\u201d he said. \u201cIf you\u2019re open, I\u2019m here.\u201d<\/p>\n

Phil Rosenberg, president of the Board of Deputies of British Jews, had said the group would be willing to meet with the musician if he pulled out of the festival.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Jewish community will want to see a genuine remorse and change before believing that the appropriate place to test this sincerity is on the main stage at the Wireless Festival,\u201d Rosenberg said.<\/p>\n

Organizer Festival Republic had stood by Ye. In a statement issued Monday, managing director Melvin Benn urged people to offer the performer \u201cforgiveness and hope.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are not giving him a platform to extol opinion of whatever nature, only to perform the songs that are currently played on the radio stations in our country and the streaming platforms in our country and listened to and enjoyed by millions,\u201d the statement said.<\/p>\n

Announcing the cancellation, Festival Republic said that \u201cmultiple stakeholders were consulted in advance of booking Ye and no concerns were highlighted at the time.<\/p>\n

\u201cAntisemitism in all its forms is abhorrent, and we recognize the real and personal impact these issues have had,\u201d it said in a statement. \u201cAs Ye said today, he acknowledges that words alone are not enough, and in spite of this still hopes to be given the opportunity to begin a conversation with the Jewish community in the U.K.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Community Security Trust, which works to protect British Jews, said the government had made the right decision.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnti-Jewish hatred should have no place in society and cultural leaders have a role to play in ensuring that is the case,\u201d it said in a statement.<\/p>\n

\u201cPeople who show genuine and meaningful remorse for previous antisemitic behavior will always receive a sympathetic hearing from the Jewish community, but that process must come before this kind of public rehabilitation.\u201d<\/p>\n

A representative for Ye didn\u2019t reply to a request for comment.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"LONDON (AP) \u2014 The rapper formerly known as Kanye West was barred Tuesday from entering the U.K., where…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":8463,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[3532,93,13,4242,103,3563,44,3562,1381,94,27,4088,3601,14,6,3396,4108,46],"class_list":{"0":"post-8462","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-britain","8":"tag-adolf-hitler","9":"tag-antisemitism","10":"tag-britain","11":"tag-diageo-plc","12":"tag-entertainment","13":"tag-fairs-and-festivals","14":"tag-general-news","15":"tag-hip-hop-and-rap","16":"tag-kanye-west","17":"tag-keir-starmer","18":"tag-london","19":"tag-melvin-benn","20":"tag-phil-rosenberg","21":"tag-politics","22":"tag-united-kingdom","23":"tag-united-kingdom-government","24":"tag-wes-streeting","25":"tag-world-news"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@UnitedKingdom\/116363825473842351","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8462","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8462"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8462\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/8463"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8462"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8462"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8462"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}