Pepsi, Diageo Pull Wireless Sponsorship After Ye Booking
Pepsi and Diageo withdrew support after Ye was booked to headline all three nights of Wireless, prompting political condemnation and possible exclusion actions by UK authorities.
The GuardianDiageo and Pepsi drop Wireless sponsorship amid criticism of Kanye West booking
BBC NewsKanye West: Pepsi withdraws as Wireless Festival sponsor after backlash
USA TODAYPepsi pulls music festival sponsorship amid backlash to Ye performance
PBS NewsHourPressure grows to remove Ye, formerly known as Kanye West, as the headliner of London summer music festival
Overview
Pepsi decided to withdraw its sponsorship of Wireless Festival.
The move followed organisers booking rapper Ye to headline all three nights of Wireless, scheduled for July 10 to July 12 at Finsbury Park.
Prime Minister Keir Starmer said it was "deeply concerning" that Ye had been booked and said "Antisemitism in any form is abhorrent," according to his remarks.
Organisers had scheduled Ye to perform to around 150,000 revellers across the festival's three nights, and Diageo said it will not sponsor the 2026 Wireless festival.
The home secretary could direct that Ye be excluded from the UK, and the Home Office had not yet received an application for his entry.
Analysis
Center-leaning sources frame the story as a moral and public-safety issue, emphasizing widespread condemnation of West’s antisemitism and institutional responses (sponsor withdrawal, festival criticism). Language choices highlight abhorrence and Nazism, while source selection privileges official rebukes and positions West’s remorse and mental-health explanations as contextualized source content rather than exculpatory.