Drinks giant Diageo followed within hours, pulling its Johnnie Walker and Captain Morgan brands from the festival’s partnership list. By Sunday evening the festival’s website had quietly taken its sponsors page offline, replacing it with an error message reading: “There’s nothing to see here.”
West, 48, was announced earlier this week as the headliner for all three nights of the July festival at Finsbury Park in north London — a booking the festival’s organiser Festival Republic described as “a three-night journey through his most iconic records.” The announcement detonated controversy almost immediately, given West’s documented history of antisemitic statements, his declaration that he is a Nazi, and his release last year of a song titled “Heil Hitler” — conduct that led Australia to block him from entering the country.
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Prime Minister Keir Starmer said Sunday the booking was “deeply concerning,” stating that West had been selected “despite his previous antisemitic remarks and celebration of Nazism.” Starmer added that antisemitism “in any form is abhorrent and must be confronted firmly wherever it appears” and that everyone bears responsibility for ensuring Jewish people feel safe in Britain.
The leader of the Board of Deputies of British Jews told BBC Newsnight that West should be blocked from entering the country entirely. Liberal Democrat leader Ed Davey called on the government to deny him entry, describing the planned appearance as “extremely serious.” Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch said Britain must stop “platforming people who make antisemitic statements or who put out anything that will incite violence and hatred towards Jews.” Reform UK leader Nigel Farage offered a more measured contribution: “Personally I wouldn’t buy a ticket.”
The Home Office said it had not yet received an entry application from West.
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West’s conduct over the past several years has been extensive and well-documented. In 2022 he posted content on X combining a swastika with the Star of David, declared he would go “death con 3 On Jewish people,” wore a “White Lives Matter” T-shirt at Paris fashion week and had his accounts repeatedly suspended for violating platform rules. Adidas terminated its partnership with him that year, saying it does “not tolerate antisemitism and any other sort of hate speech.” He declared himself a Nazi earlier in 2025 before retracting a previous apology, and sold T-shirts featuring a swastika through his clothing website.
In November 2025, West met with Rabbi Yoshiyahu Yosef Pinto and reportedly apologised for his antisemitic statements. He followed that with a full-page advertisement in the Wall Street Journal in January, writing: “I am not a Nazi or an antisemite.” He attributed past statements to his bipolar disorder, saying that during manic episodes “you don’t think you’re sick” and that he had “lost touch with reality.” He said he regretted and was “deeply mortified” by his actions.
Three songs from his most recent album Bully, released in March, are currently in the UK’s top 100 singles chart. He has not performed in Britain since headlining Glastonbury in 2015.
A spokesperson for London Mayor Sadiq Khan said West’s past comments and actions were “offensive and wrong, and simply not reflective of London’s values,” while noting the booking was made by festival organisers without City Hall’s involvement.
Festival Republic and West’s representatives had not responded to requests for comment by Sunday evening.