Ban Kanye West from performing at Wireless festival, antisemitism charity urges

Kanye West should be banned from entering the UK to perform at Wireless Festival, the Campaign Against Antisemitism has urged.The Jewish charity is the latest voice to join calls for the rapper’s performance to be cancelled following his antisemitic remarks and raises doubts about whether the music festival, due to take place in London’s Finsbury Park in July, will go ahead.Keir Starmer joined criticism of the festival at the weekend, saying it was “deeply concerning” that West had been booked to perform “despite his previous antisemitic remarks and celebration of Nazism”.In a post on X, the Campaign Against Antisemitism said: “The prime minister is right to be deeply concerned that Wireless Festival wants to headline someone whose anti-Jewish bigotry has gone as far as recording a track titled ‘Heil Hitler’ less than a year ago.“But the prime minister is not a bystander. The government can ban anyone from entering the UK who is not a citizen and whose presence would ‘not be conducive to the public good’. Surely this is a clear case.”On Monday, the Tory MP Chris Philp wrote to Shabana Mahmood, the home secretary, to ask her to prevent West from travelling to the UK. Pepsi and Diageo have withdrawn their sponsorship of the festival in response to West being announced as the headline act for all three nights, although the brands remain prominently displayed as sponsors on Wireless Festival’s official website.PayPal, which is a payment partner for the annual hip-hop festival, will not appear in any of its future promotional materials.West has not performed in the UK since he headlined Glastonbury in 2015. He has been criticised for making a series of antisemitic remarks, including voicing admiration for Adolf Hitler. Last year, he released a song called Heil Hitler, a few months after advertising a swastika T-shirt for sale on his website.The musician, also known as Ye, has been barred from X on multiple occasions for antisemitism.Ed Davey, the Liberal Democrat leader, has also called on the government to ban West from entering the UK, saying: “We need to get tougher on antisemitism.”The Labour MP Rachael Maskell told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme that West should not be given a platform, and should be banned from entering the UK.A Campaign Against Antisemitism march in London in November 2023. Photograph: Jordan Pettitt/PAPhil Rosenberg, president of the Board of Deputies of British Jews, said allowing West to play at the festival was the “wrong decision” and urged the government to consider barring him from entering the country. The booking has also been condemned by the Jewish Leadership Council and the Community Security Trust.In January, West took out a full-page advert in the Wall Street Journal titled: “To those I’ve hurt”, which stated: “I am not a Nazi or an antisemite. I love Jewish people.”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”.The 48-year-old rapper’s scheduled appearance comes amid growing antisemitism in the UK. In March, four ambulances from a Jewish community-run service were set on fire in Golders Green, north-west London, while in October last year, two men were killed in an attack on a synagogue in Manchester.The Home Office and Wireless Festival have been approached for comment.