Pepsi pulls music festival sponsorship amid backlash to Ye performance

Brendan Morrow, USA TODAYSun, April 5, 2026 at 7:44 PM UTC

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Pepsi has pulled out of sponsoring an upcoming music festival in London amid growing backlash over the involvement of Ye, the controversial rapper formerly known as Kanye West.

A Pepsi spokesperson confirmed in a statement provided to USA TODAY on April 5, "Pepsi has decided to withdraw its sponsorship of Wireless Festival." The move came days after the announcement that Ye will headline all three days of the festival, which is scheduled to take place this July in London.

The booking sparked swift criticism given the widespread backlash Ye has faced in recent years for his racist and antisemitic comments, including saying he loves Adolf Hitler, identifies as a Nazi and planned to go "death con 3 on" Jewish people. In 2022, major brands cut ties with the rapper over his antisemitic statements. Since then, Ye has continued stirring outrage and in 2025 released a song titled "Heil Hitler."

Kanye West attends the Grammy Awards at the Crypto.com Arena in Los Angeles on Feb. 2, 2025.

USA TODAY has reached out to a representative for Ye for comment.

The Wireless Festival will be held at Finsbury Park in London from July 10 to July 12. Festival organizers previously said that Ye's "UK comeback will be an extraordinary chapter in Wireless's story," per the BBC. The rapper last performed in the U.K. in 2015.

Prior to Pepsi's statement, U.K. Prime Minister Keir Starmer told the British tabloid The Sun it is "deeply concerning" that Ye has been booked to perform at the festival "despite his previous antisemitic remarks and celebration of Nazism."

Starmer added, "Antisemitism in any form is abhorrent and must be confronted firmly wherever it appears. Everyone has a responsibility to ensure Britain is a place where Jewish people feel safe."

Ye to headline Wireless Festival: The announcement came after his recent apology for antisemitic remarks

The charity Campaign Against Antisemitism also condemned Ye's planned performance and called on Starmer to prevent the rapper from entering the U.K. in a statement provided to USA TODAY.

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1 / 0See Kanye West, Ye, the polarizing rapper, fashion mogul

Born Kanye Omari West, Ye transformed himself from a college dropout in Chicago to an undisputable icon of music and fashion. But a string of controversies has the rapper facing a fallout. In October 2022, several companies, including Adidas and Balenciaga fashion house, cut ties with the star after he made antisemitic remarks.Look back on Ye's life and career, from his marriage and divorce from Kim Kardashian to his polarizing political statements. Here, Ye and Bianca Censori attend the 67th Grammy Awards on Feb. 2, 2025, in Los Angeles.

"The Prime Minister is right to be deeply concerned that Wireless wants to headline someone whose anti-Jewish bigotry has gone as far as recording a track titled 'Heil Hitler' less than a year ago," the statement read. "He is not a bystander though. The Government can ban anyone from entering the UK who is not a citizen and whose presence would 'not be conducive to the public good.' Surely this is a clear case. Pepsi has done the right thing by dropping its sponsorship of the festival, but if management are adamant that they want to headline Kanye West, it is only the Government that can stop them."

Kanye West attends a game at the Crypto.com Arena on March 11, 2022, in Los Angeles.

Ye, who unveiled his latest album "Bully" on March 28, took out a full-page ad in the Wall Street Journal in January apologizing for his previous comments. He said he "lost touch with reality" because he suffers from bipolar disorder.

Ye performs first US show in years: What critics and fans are saying

"One of the difficult aspects of having bipolar type-1 are the disconnected moments − many of which I still cannot recall − that lead to poor judgment and reckless behavior that oftentimes feels like an out-of-body experience," he wrote. "I regret and am deeply mortified by my actions in that state, and am committed to accountability, treatment, and meaningful change. It does not excuse what I did, though. I am not a Nazi or an antisemite. I love Jewish people."

Ye also told Vanity Fair that he owed a "huge apology once again for everything that I said that hurt the Jewish and Black communities in particular."

At the time, the Anti-Defamation League described Ye's apology as "long overdue," but said it does not "automatically undo his long history of antisemitism – the antisemitic 'Heil Hitler' song he created, the hundreds of tweets, the swastikas and myriad Holocaust references – and all of the feelings of hurt and betrayal it caused."

On April 1, Ye performed his first full live show in the United States since 2021, taking the stage at SoFi Stadium in Los Angeles.

Contributing: Anthony Robledo and Anna Kaufman

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Kanye West Wireless Festival loses Pepsi as sponsor amid backlash

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