The boss of Wireless Festival has asked the public to ‘forgive’ Kanye West as he defended booking the disgraced rapper as a headliner.
Several of the festival’s sponsors have withdrawn amid growing fury at the booking, and the Prime Minister even spoke out against it.
But Melvin Benn, Managing Director at Festival Republic, the company behind Wireless, has refused to back down – explaining he overcame initial feelings of ‘disgust’ at the idea of West performing.
He said in a statement this evening that ‘forgiveness and giving people a second chance’ and urged people to reconsider their knee-jerk reaction.
PayPal and Rockstar Energy Drinks washed their hands of this year’s festival on Monday, following the lead of Pepsi and drinks giant Diageo on Sunday.
This plunged the festival into chaos, leaving it without a flagship sponsor and the prospect of a raft of other companies withdrawing their backing.
Mr Benn’s intervention appears to be an attempt to divert disaster, though he incredibly has not bowed to the pressure to remove West from the lineup.
Addressing the rapper’s recent history of vile antisemitic rants and lyrics, Mr Benn said: ‘What Ye has said in the past about Jews and Hitler is as abhorrent to me as it is to the Jewish community, the Prime Minister and others that have commented and – taking him at his word – to Ye now also.’
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Wireless Festival has come under intense fire for booking Kanye West as a headliner