Pepsi has canceled its planned sponsorship of London’s upcoming Wireless Festival over the participation of headliner Kanye West, with Rockstar Energy and Diageo reportedly following suit, per local reports.
The soda giant said Sunday that it was pulling out of the July music festival, which has been co-branded as “Pepsi MAX Presents Wireless” since 2015, without naming the controversial artist who now goes by Ye, several British outlets reported.
As of Monday morning, fellow sponsors Rockstar Energy and Diageo have also reportedly distanced themselves from the festival, as has ticket company PayPal. “We have informed the organisers of our concerns and as it stands, Diageo will not sponsor the 2026 Wireless festival,” the company behind Johnnie Walker and Captain Morgan said in a statement.
Still, Ye is scheduled to headline the three-night July festival at Finsbury Park. His booking was immediately condemned by Prime Minister Keir Starmer.
“It is deeply concerning Kanye West has been booked to perform at Wireless despite his previous antisemitic remarks and celebration of Nazism,” Starmer told The Sun on Saturday. “Antisemitism in any form is abhorrent and must be confronted firmly wherever it appears.”
Regardless, the Wireless Festival still lists Ye as the headliner, and the Pepsi branding is still prominent on its website and Instagram page.
Ye acknowledged his statements and strange behavior in a January apology in the Wall Street Journal in January, writing, “I am not a Nazi or an antisemite” and “I love Jewish people.” He has since kicked off a comeback tour in the U.S., having just played two sold-out nights at SoFi Stadium in Los Angeles.
The apology and run of shows came less than a year since he released the song “Heil Hitler,” though he recently re-released it as “Hallelujah,” now with Christian-themed lyrics. He did not acknowledge his past behavior at the SoFi shows, his first major solo performances in more than five years.
Ye’s new album “Bully” was expected to debut Sunday on the Billboard 200 chart and is already available on streaming platforms. Critics note that its lyrics are significantly tamer than his previous efforts and flagged nothing controversial or disturbing.
