Kanye West's Wireless Festival Headliner Status Revoked Amidst Backlash

When Kanye West was announced as the headliner for Wireless festival in London this summer, the backlash was immediate.

Lanre Bakare, the Guardian’s arts and culture correspondent, stated that West had been on a campaign of four or five years of antisemitic trolling, embracing neo-Nazi imagery and pushing out far-right conspiracy theories about Jewish people.

Bakare argued that Wireless massively underestimated the strength of feeling on this issue. He explained that in Britain, there is a heightened awareness of rising antisemitism, referencing the Manchester attacks and the proximity of the Wireless venue in Finsbury Park to a large Jewish community that has recently been targeted.

On Tuesday, the UK government revoked West’s visa, leading to the cancellation of Wireless festival. Despite being banned from the UK, Bakare maintains that West remains a commercially viable artist and that his comeback will not be entirely derailed.

Bakare believes that Kanye West won’t return to the heights he previously achieved, noting that he hasn't been at the absolute cutting edge of hip-hop and rap for a decade. While he might not be booked for festivals like Coachella or Glastonbury again, Bakare is certain that West can still sell out 70,000-seater stadiums in America.