Live Nation, the biggest concert promoter in the world, spent months planning and millions of dollars on their gamble on rehabilitating Kanye West.
Executives from the huge global company, which looks after the O2 stadia in the UK and festivals including The Isle of Wight, Reading and Leeds, flew out from LA to see Kanye play in Mexico last month – to woo him to come to Europe.
A source told the Daily Mail: ‘Live Nation put together a big package of multiple shows across the globe including Wireless.
‘They were advised that it would be mad to put him on stage in Haringey, so close to a large Jewish community in north London, and they didn’t listen.
‘They are now saying that they asked “stakeholders” but this is simply ludicrous.
‘Before they signed a deal with Wireless they had asked about putting a show on at the Tottenham Hotspur and West Ham grounds and both turned them down absolutely flat.
‘That should at least have shown them what a problem there was. Then there was an exploration of asking Twickenham but it was felt to be the wrong crowd for Kanye.
‘He asked for and got $15million (£11million) to play those three nights at Wireless. At that late point they still hadn’t secured a headline act.
‘Live Nation should be able to get all $15million back as their contracts say that it is the responsibility of the artist to get a visa. Because the decision was made by the Home Secretary they believe that they can get their money back.
‘They think it’s not as big a disaster as it could have been but, good luck getting Kanye to pay you back.’
However, this will still be a massive loss for Live Nation, who own Wireless. The belief in the industry is that Wireless – the UK’s only rap festival which has a troubled history of crime and anti-social behaviour – won’t be able to book a new headline act so will ‘go dark’ in 2026.
That will lead to a loss of around $30million, per sources, which will almost certainly be enough to send the event under.
A source said: ‘This is one of the biggest mess-ups that they have made since Covid, and I am including the Ticketmaster disaster which has led to them being sued in that.
‘This shows how arrogant and out of touch they are. They thought that they would get away with it and that everyone would roll over. That didn’t happen which is why Kanye released a new apology, but it was too little too late.
‘Kanye has just been cynically doing what he always does which is cause outrageous offence, go away for a year, and then come back with an album and apology. That playbook no longer flies.’
Shabana Mahmood banned the rapper on the grounds that his presence would ‘not be conducive to the public good’.
Within minutes of the news breaking about West’s ban, the inevitable announcement came from Wireless that the festival was cancelled.
All promotional material for the three-day event in Finsbury Park has since been wiped from its Instagram page and website. All that remains is a single post to say the ‘festival has been forced to cancel’.
Ticket holders have been told they will be receiving a full refund. But there are already grumblings from disappointed fans about the organisers’ failure not to ‘think of a backup plan’.
The Government’s move was backed by The Campaign Against Antisemitism, while Sir Keir Starmer said West ‘should never have been invited’.
Karen Pollock, CEO of the Holocaust Educational Trust, also supported the Government’s move and accused West’s defenders of double standards.
‘No other community would be told to “forgive” or “talk” – the disgusting racism would be recognised for what it is,’ she said.
It looks possible now that West’s gigs in France and Holland will also be cancelled.
The Mayor of Marseille has said that he doesn’t want West to perform already. One of the shows in Holland is selling well, but the other one isn’t, according to sources.
Questions will likely now hang over festival organiser Melvin Benn’s head as to why he had persisted with booking a headliner whose recent history was littered with vile anti-semitic rants and lyrics.
His lengthy statement, released on Monday night, appeared to be an 11th-hour attempt to ward off the mounting pressure.
In it, Mr Benn said he had been a ‘deeply committed anti-fascist… all my adult life’.
‘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,’ he said.
He insisted he is ‘pro Jew and the Jewish state, while being equally committed to a Palestinian state’, and cited his experience living on a kibbutz for some months in the 1970s.
The director also said that in his personal life he has seen how mental illness can cause bouts of ‘despicable behaviour’, but that he has had to ‘forgive and move on’.
Mr Benn continued: ‘Ye’s music is played on commercial radio stations in this country. It is available via live streams and downloads in this country without comment or vitriol from anyone and he has a legal right to come into the country and to perform in this country.
‘He is intended to come in and perform. We are not giving him a platform to extol opinion of whatever nature, only to perform the songs that are currently played on the radio stations in our country and the streaming platforms in our country and listened to and enjoyed by millions.
‘Forgiveness and giving people a second chance are becoming a lost virtue in this ever-increasing, divisive world and I would ask people to reflect on their instant comments of disgust at the likelihood of him performing (as was mine) and offer some forgiveness and hope to him as I have decided to do.’
West, now known as Ye, apologised in January after a period of spewing racist hate, and even released a song called Heil Hitler and sold swastika T-shirts. He blamed his outbursts on his bipolar disorder.
He had said he wanted to show ‘change through his actions’ and meet with Jews in London ahead of the performance – which would have been his first in the UK in 11 years.
In a statement following the cancellation of the festival, Wireless said: ‘As with every Wireless Festival, multiple stakeholders were consulted in advance of booking YE and no concerns were highlighted at the time,’ a spokesman for the festival said.
