The partnership between Pepsi and Diageo, a leading brewing company, with the UK's prestigious 2026 Wireless Festival has been terminated, following the announcement that Kanye West, aka Ye, would be headlining the three-day event. The rapper has faced a wave of backlash in recent years due to his persistent antisemitic and offensive remarks.
Pepsi, the primary sponsor of Wireless, which will take place at London's Finsbury Park from July 10-12, has made the decision to withdraw its sponsorship. Diageo, which owns brands such as Guinness, Baileys, Smirnoff, Ciroc, and partners with Captain Morgan and Johnnie Walker at Wireless, has also expressed its concerns and withdrawn its support for the festival.
"We have informed the organizers of our concerns, and as it stands, Diageo will not sponsor the 2026 Wireless festival," a Diageo spokesperson told CNN.
The decision to feature West as the headliner for all three days of the festival has sparked controversy. The UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer condemned the move over the weekend, stating that it was deeply concerning that West had been booked to perform at Wireless despite his previous antisemitic remarks and celebration of Nazism.
The Campaign Against Antisemitism (CAA) has called for West to be banned from entering the UK. "The Prime Minister is right to be deeply concerned that @WirelessFest wants to headline someone whose anti-Jewish bigotry has gone as far as recording a track titled 'Heil Hitler' less than a year ago," said CAA in a post on Sunday. "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," CAA continued. "Surely this is a clear case."
This move comes amid growing concern that antisemitism is on the rise in Britain. Last month, British police arrested two men following a suspected antisemitic arson attack in which several ambulances belonging to a Jewish volunteer rescue organization were set on fire in London's largest Jewish community.
The president of the community organization Board of Deputies of British Jews, Phil Rosenberg, issued a statement on Sunday, saying that Wireless Festival "should not be profiting from racism" by inviting West to headline and adding that the "decision breaches Wireless's own charter" on not tolerating discrimination.
This is just the latest controversy surrounding West in recent years. In July, his Australian visa was canceled after he released "Heil Hitler," a song promoting Nazism. In 2022, Adidas, Balenciaga, TJ Maxx, and Gap cut ties with West, who is also a fashion designer, after he made antisemitic remarks and wore a shirt with the slogan "White Lives Matter." He was also suspended from X that year for violating its rules on inciting violence but had his account reactivated in 2023.
