Festival Republic boss Melvin Benn has claimed that Pepsi originally approved and “signed off” on the decision to have Kanye West headline the now-cancelled Wireless Festival, before pulling out as a sponsor over the weekend.
The rapper was confirmed last week to be the headliner for all three nights of the London festival, and the gigs were advertised as a journey through his “most iconic records”.
The booking sparked widespread criticism due to Ye’s history of anti-Semitism, and Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer said that it was “deeply concerning” that the rapper had been booked despite his “celebration of Nazism”.
London Mayor Sadiq Khan also spoke out against the decision, and Sajid Javid – the former Chancellor of the Exchequer and current chair of the Holocaust Memorial Day Trust – said he was “certain” the Home Secretary would stop the rapper from entering the UK if Wireless didn’t cancel the shows.
It later emerged that Ye’s right to enter the UK was under government review, before it was confirmed today (Tuesday April 7) he had been blocked from travelling to the UK by the government – leading to Wireless being cancelled.
Before the decision to prevent the rapper from entering the country was made, a series of festival sponsors severed their ties with Wireless amid the backlash – including Pepsi, drinks giant Diageo, PayPal and Rockstar Energy.
Melvin Benn, the managing director of Festival Republic, which co-promotes Wireless alongside Live Nation, stood by the decision to book Ye, saying that while West’s past remarks were “abhorrent” he hopes that people will “offer some forgiveness”.
He has now also said that while Pepsi distanced themselves from the festival and cut ties following the controversy, the decision to book West was originally “signed off” by them.
In a new interview with BBC Radio 4’s Today Show, held shortly before it was confirmed that the gigs had been cancelled, Benn admitted that Festival Republic “should have” contacted Jewish groups before they booked Ye for Wireless 2026, and added that the decision not to “may prove to be a mistake”.
“With Pepsi, for instance, our lead sponsor, they signed off and approved it,” he continued, before host Justin Webb asked him to clarify that the drink company initially backed the decision to book West, before they later shared a statement saying that it had “decided to withdraw its sponsorship of Wireless Festival”.
“Correct. Yes,” Benn replied. “They’re our headline sponsor. We asked them and asked them to sign off on it, and they did. Perhaps we should have done the same with the Jewish community.”
While the company distanced itself from Wireless amid the backlash to booking Kanye West as headliner, it is worth noting that it did sponsor the recent show the rapper played at his ‘Homecoming’ tour last month, which took place at California’s SoFi Stadium just days after he released his new album, ‘BULLY’.
NME has reached out to Pepsi for a response.
The move to ban West from entering the UK was made today, when the Home Office confirmed that the Electronic Travel Authorisation (ETA) made by the rapper – an application to travel to the UK – had been refused.
A spokesperson for Wireless Festival then said that, as a result, “Wireless Festival is cancelled and refunds will be issued to all ticket holders”.
As well as fans and politicians, the decision to book West for Wireless 2026 was also opposed by various Jewish groups in the UK, who highlighted how the rapper has revoked his apologies for anti-Semitic comments multiple times, released songs over the past 12-months called ‘Heil Hitler’ and ‘Gas Chamber’, and also sold shirts that have a swastika printed on them.
In their statements, the groups were all against the rapper performing in the UK, and also addressed the new, updated version of Ye’s Wall Street Journal “To Those I’ve Hurt” letter – which he originally shared in January and used to apologise to the Jewish community, as well as cite his struggles with mental health as a contributing factor.
“Even while claiming remorse today, #Ye‘s latest album includes a track first released last year with the abhorrent title Gas Chamber. The Jewish community will want to see a genuine remorse and change before believing that the appropriate place to test this sincerity is on the… pic.twitter.com/Uts8sfbba4
— Board of Deputies of British Jews (@BoardofDeputies) April 7, 2026
In the amended letter, Ye said that he would “would be grateful for the opportunity to meet with members of the Jewish community in the UK in person” to listen to them and apologise again for his comments. In response to the request, the Board of Deputies of British Jews said that they would be willing to talk to him, while the Campaign Against Antisemitism said that the move would “serve no purpose other than to kosher his invitation to the Festival – which we will play no part in”.
In his initial apology letter in January, West cited mental health issues as contributing to his anti-Semitic comments and offensive behaviour over the past few years. These, he claimed, included a “four-month-long manic episode of psychotic, paranoid and impulsive behaviour that destroyed [his] life”, as well as his bipolar type-1 diagnosis, and a car accident 25 years ago that he said “caused injury to the right frontal lobe of [his] brain”.
Melvin Benn also cited Ye’s battle with mental health in his statement defending the booking at Wireless. “Having had a person in my life for the last 15 years who suffers from mental illness, I have witnessed many episodes of despicable behaviour that I have had to forgive and move on from,” he wrote. “If I wasn’t before, I have become a person of forgiveness and hope in all aspects of my life, including work.”
Amid the controversy surrounding Wireless Festival, David Schwimmer took to social media to publicly condemn the decision to book the rapper.
