Pressure mounts over UK festival's Kanye West booking

Pressure mounts over UK festival's Kanye West bookingJust nowShareSaveAdd as preferred on GoogleIan YoungsCulture reporterPA MediaJewish groups and MPs have called on the Wireless Festival to cancel Kanye West's headline booking and for the government to ban the US rapper from the UK over his history of antisemitism.The star, now known as Ye, released a song called Heil Hitler and sold swastika T-shirts last year before apologising and blaming his bipolar disorder. He is due to play at the London event in July - but two sponsors withdrew on Sunday. Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer called the booking "deeply concerning".Stephen Silverman from the Campaign Against Antisemitism (CAA) said on Monday that the booking was "astonishing". Labour MP Rachael Maskell said "we cannot allow these performers to have a platform".Maskell told BBC Radio 4's Today programme: "That's why it's absolutely right that the prime minister has said the Wireless Festival should cancel this performer, but also he should not be allowed to come to our country to perform in the light of the antisemitic comments that he has made and recorded."Sir Keir had said that antisemitism was "abhorrent and must be confronted firmly wherever it appears", and that "everyone has a responsibility to ensure Britain is a place where Jewish people feel safe".Following the prime minister's comments on Sunday, the festival's headline sponsor Pepsi pulled out, while fellow drinks giant Diageo also removed its support "as it stands".It has since emerged that PayPal, which is a payment partner for Wireless, will no longer allow its branding to be used on promotional material for the festival.Silverman, the CAA's director of investigations and enforcement, said many Jews had reacted "with shock and they were appalled" by the festival's decision to book West."It's great that sponsors are n...