Pepsi has exited the spotlight at one of Britain's biggest summer music events, the New York Times reports. The company on Sunday pulled its sponsorship of London's Wireless Festival, which is being headlined by Ye, the rapper formerly known as Kanye West, after weeks of backlash over his history of antisemitic and racist remarks. The move came hours after Prime Minister Keir Starmer told the Sun he was "deeply concerned" by Ye's booking—which NPR reports was announced last week—and stressed that antisemitism "must be confronted firmly wherever it appears." Wireless had been billed as "PEPSI PRESENTS WIRELESS"; the festival still lists other major brands, including Budweiser and PayPal, as partners—though they, too, are being pressured to pull out, the AP reports. Diageo, the company that owns liquor brands including Johnnie Walker and Captain Morgan, also said it will no longer sponsor the festival "as it stands."
Ye has been trying to reenter mainstream culture following a series of public controversies, including a 2022 post threatening "death con 3 ON JEWISH PEOPLE" and an interview conducted in a garment resembling a Black Ku Klux Klan robe. He has issued multiple, conflicting apologies, at one point calling himself a Nazi and praising Adolf Hitler before later blaming untreated bipolar disorder and then saying he had been diagnosed with autism. Starmer, who built his political profile in part by pushing Labour to confront antisemitism, signaled he does not accept the rapper's latest apology as credible. Apparently quite a few people do, though; Ye's first major US performance in almost five years, Friday in Los Angeles, was sold out. It remains unclear whether Ye has even applied to enter Britain.
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