PayPal and Rockstar Energy are the latest brands to distance themselves from Wireless Festival over Kanye West‘s controversial headline slot.
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The first few tickets for the annual hip-hop festival were made available in a PayPal pre-sale last week, with another due to begin tomorrow (April 7).
However, the company, which is a payment partner for the festival, will no longer allow its branding to be used on promotional material for the festival, as per ITV News.
Additionally, Rockstar Energy have now reportedly withdrawn funding for the festival, per a report from Sky News.
It’s the latest blow for Wireless after its main sponsor, Pepsi, announced it was withdrawing its funding yesterday, followed by Diageo – the company behind Johnnie Walker and Captain Morgan – today.
A spokesperson for the latter said: “We have informed the organisers of our concerns, and as it stands, Diageo will not sponsor the 2026 Wireless festival,” per ITV News.
The moves come as a response to this year’s headliner, Kanye West – now known as Ye – who is due to perform on all three nights of the festival in London’s Finsbury Park in July.
The booking has prompted widespread criticism, including from Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer, who said it is “deeply concerning that Kanye West has been booked to perform at Wireless despite his previous anti-Semitic remarks and celebration of Nazism”.
London Mayor Sadiq Khan also spoke out against the decision, alongside groups including the Jewish Leadership Council and the Campaign Against Anti-Semitism.
This morning, Sajid David, the former Chancellor of the Exchequer and current chair of the Holocaust Memorial Day Trust, also condemned Wireless for booking West, and said he was “certain” the Home Secretary, Shabana Mahmood, would stop the rapper from entering the UK if Wireless didn’t cancel the shows.
Elsewhere, the Tory MP Chris Philp, Ed Davey, the Liberal Democrat leader and Labour MP Rachael Maskell have all said that West should be banned from entering the UK.
NME have contacted Wireless Festival for comment.
West’s history of making anti-Semitic remarks dates back to 2022, when he made a series of offensive comments on social media. Those remarks saw his accounts on both Instagram and Twitter suspended, and the musician was dropped by his lawyer, talent agency and record label, along with fashion brands such as Balenciaga and Adidas.
At first, West gave several interviews refusing to apologise for making the comments while suggesting that Jewish people should “forgive Hitler”. However, in 2023, West would deliver an apology to the Jewish community, going on to blame alcohol for his behaviour the following year.
In the wake of that initial apology, numerous lawsuits have been filed against the rapper with claims of extensive antisemitic behaviour. One former employee alleged that the rapper said Jewish people were “working together to hold him back”.
Another former employee claimed he used anti-Semitic language in the workplace and praised Hitler – something for which he allegedly paid a settlement for. In 2024, a separate ex-employee accused him of being openly anti-Semitic in front of his staff.
West would share a number of highly controversial posts in early 2025, when he took back an apology he previously made to the Jewish community for anti-Semitic remarks, and then declared himself “a Nazi”. West then claimed on X/Twitter that, “after further reflection”, he’d “come to the realisation that I’m not a Nazi”, followed only a few days later by yet more swastika apparel appearing on his X page.
West has since apologised for his actions by meeting with a rabbi and taking out a full-page ad in the Wall Street Journal broadcasting a separate apology.
However, he did not address the ongoing controversy while kicking off his tour earlier this week, but did tell the crowd at the SoFi Stadium: “Tonight we’re going to put all this behind us, ain’t that right LA?” on Friday (April 3).
