We won’t help save Wireless Festival by meeting Kanye West, say Jewish leaders

Festival organisers facing backlash over ‘appalling decision’ to book the US rapper
British Jewish groups have refused to meet Kanye West after the rapper offered to meet them ahead of his “appalling” headline slot at Wireless Festival this summer.

Government ministers and Jewish groups have said organisers of the London festival should be “ashamed” for inviting the US rapper to headline all three days after he made a series of antisemitic statements last year.

This included releasing a song called Heil Hitler and advertising a swastika T-shirt for sale on his website.

As tickets for the three Finsbury Park concerts went on sale, West said he would like to speak directly to the UK’s Jewish community following calls for him to be banned.

Wes Streeting said organisers of the festival in Finsbury Park should be “ashamed” after they “showed a terrible error of judgment” by booking West to perform.

The health secretary said West has “no business headlining” Wireless, and hit out at the organisers’ judgement.

“These weren't a couple of off colour remarks, this was a pattern of behaviour,” he told Sky News.

“The releasing of a song called Heil Hitler, the plastering of that slogan across T shirts, then using bipolar disorder as an excuse.

“And when he realised the impact on his fame and his career he came out with a medium of apologies - which has now been given a fig leaf of credibility by festival organisers who should be ashamed of themselves.

Ministers are currently reviewing West’s permission to enter the UK after Sir Keir Starmer called the decision “deeply concerning”.

Despite calls to reconsider the booking from Jewish groups and major sponsors who have withdrawn their support, the festival defended their decision in a statement on Monday.

Melvin Benn, managing director at Festival Republic, which promotes Wireless Festival , said West’s comments were “abhorrent”, but said he is “not giving him a platform to extol opinion of whatever nature”.

Describing himself as a “person of forgiveness”, Mr Benn said: “He is intended to come in and perform.

We 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.”
He told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme on Tuesday that West has an approved visa to come to the UK which was “issued in the last few days”.

“If she does, she does, and then the issue is over in terms of his appearance.”
Mr Streeting criticised Mr Benn’s initial statement, saying it showed “another terrible error of judgment” which “tries to give a fig leaf of credibility” to West.

The president of the Board of Deputies of British Jews has also said it was “time for Wireless to do the decent thing and rescind an invitation they never should have offered”.

As tickets for the three concerts went on sale, West offered to meet with the British Jewish community ahead of his show in a statement.

“I’ve been following the conversation around Wireless and want to address it directly,” he said.

“My only goal is to come to London and present a show of change, bringing unity, peace, and love through my music.

“I would be grateful for the opportunity to meet with members of the Jewish community in the UK in person, to listen.

“I know words aren’t enough – I’ll have to show change through my actions.

If you’re open, I’m here.”
Mr Benn also told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme that organisers had reached out Jewish communities “over the last couple of days” about meeting West, but they had refused.

Asked whether he should have done it earlier when organisers were making a decision, Mr Benn said: “Potentially we should have done and that may prove to be a mistake that we’ve made.”
He added: “I’m not telling them, I’m asking them.

If they say no, they have the right to that opinion, of course they do.”
Mr Benn continued: “I want to give people a second chance and I think Kanye West, Ye as he is now officially known, should be given a second chance and should be able to become an advocate for the very same community that he has upset so much.”
Pepsi and Diageo withdrew their sponsorship of the festival after West was announced as the headline act, and no brands appeared as visible sponsors on Wireless Festival’s official website on Monday evening.

Additionally PayPal, which is a payment partner for the annual rap and hip-hop festival, will not appear in any of its future promotional materials.

In January, West took out a full-page advert in the Wall Street Journal to apologise, titled: “To Those I’ve Hurt.”
“I am not a Nazi or an antisemite,” it said.

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”.

Referring to this, Mr Streeting has said he thinks the use of bipolar disorder by West to justify his actions is “appalling”.

Mr Streeting said on Tuesday: “When Kanye West uses bipolar disorder to justify his actions, I think that is equally appalling by the way.”
He added: “I would ask people to consider, does using bipolar disorder as an excuse to write and release a song called Heil Hitler and plaster it across T-shirts, does bipolar disorder really justify that?

Or is it an excuse to justify rotten behaviour?”
Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies