Pepsi and Diageo drop Wireless Festival sponsorship amid Kanye West controversy

Hiring Kanye West as the headliner of the Wireless Festival continues to generate turbulence in the United Kingdom. This Sunday, drinks industry giants Pepsi and  Diageo announced the withdrawal of their sponsorship of the event, amid a growing wave of criticism over the presence of the American rapper, who has been repeatedly condemned for antisemitic comments.

Although the controversy has been mounting in recent weeks, Pepsi was brief in its statement quoted by Sky News: "Pepsi has decided to withdraw its sponsorship of Wireless Festival."

Diageo, which owns brands such as Johnnie Walker and Captain Morgan, also announced its exit on Sunday night, with a spokesman stating. "We have informed the organisers of our concerns and as it stands, Diageo will not sponsor the 2026 Wireless festival."

Neither company explicitly mentioned West as a reason for its withdrawal, but Diageo's statement was suggestive.

The festival, scheduled for July at Finsbury Park in London, has West headlining all three nights. It will be his first performance on British soil since he headlined Glastonbury in 2015.

Starmer and British political class criticize West's inclusion

The controversy transcended the business sphere when Prime Minister Keir Starmer waded in. The booking was "deeply troubling," he said, given West's "previous antisemitic remarks and celebration of Nazism."

The British prime minister was clear: "Antisemitism 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."

Meanwhile, Ed Davey, leader of the Liberal Democrats, went further, calling on the British government to ban West from entering the UK and urging Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood to act. Sky News reported that the Home Office has yet to receive any formal request for the artist's entry.

West's big comeback and controversy

The booking comes at a great time for West, whose career is in the midst of a resurgence following the antisemitic controversy. In early April, the rapper packed SoFi Stadium in Los Angeles with more than 80,000 people on his return to U.S. stages, in a show that featured a 360-degree, rotating spherical stage. Ye's return revived his commercial value and also appeared to dent his controversial record of antisemitic and pro-Nazi comments.

In recent years, West has racked up a long list of controversies: his posts on X have earned him multiple suspensions from the platform, an ad in the Super Bowl that directed users to a T-shirt with a swastika on it and a song titled "Heil Hitler." In 2022, Adidas terminated its contract with the rapper after posting an image of a swastika inside a Star of David, and subsequently donated more than $150 million to anti-hate groups.

In January this year, West published a full-page ad in The Wall Street Journal under the headline "To Those I've Hurt," in which he apologized for his comments and wrote: "I am not a Nazi or an antisemite. I love Jewish people."

The rapper attributed his outbursts to a four-month manic episode linked to his bipolar disorder type 1. "I lost touch with reality. Things got worse the longer I ignored the problem. I said and did things I deeply regret," he said.

Wireless Festival organizers have not responded publicly to the criticism or the sponsorship withdrawals, but the case appears likely to drag on until it becomes a matter of state.