Kanye West responds to music festival booking backlash, offers to meet Jewish community

By Jack Guy and Amarachi Orie, CNN

(CNN) — Kanye West has offered to meet with members of Britain’s Jewish community following controversy over his scheduled appearance at a music festival in London.

The announcement that the rapper, who is known as Ye, would headline the three-day Wireless Festival sparked criticism from Jewish groups and politicians, who highlighted his repeated antisemitic remarks in recent years.

The backlash saw major sponsors Pepsi and Diageo withdraw from the event, which is scheduled for July 10-12, as well as drawing criticism from UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer, who called the decision for West to headline “deeply concerning.”

Now West has issued a statement saying he has been following the conversation surrounding his Wireless appearance and wants “to address it directly.”

“My only goal is to come to London and present a show of change, bringing unity, peace, and love through my music,” reads the statement in an update to his Wall Street Journal letter “To Those I’ve Hurt,” circulated by Festival Republic, which runs Wireless, on Tuesday.

“I would be grateful for the opportunity to meet with members of the Jewish community in the UK in person, to listen,” said West.

“I know words aren’t enough – I’ll have to show change through my actions,” he added. “If you’re open, I’m here.”

West – who previously said he had bipolar disorder before saying last year that he had been misdiagnosed and instead has autism – took out a full-page advert in the Wall Street Journal in January to apologize for his previous comments.

“I lost touch with reality. Things got worse the longer I ignored the problem. I said and did things I deeply regret,” he wrote. “In that fractured state, I gravitated toward the most destructive symbol I could find, the swastika, and even sold T-shirts bearing it.”

‘Profit or principle’

However, the charity Campaign Against Antisemitism (CAA) questioned whether West’s remorse was genuine, saying that the rapper and festival organizers would have to choose between “profit or principle.”

“If Mr West cancels his appearances at Wireless, it will be a sign that he may be genuine in his remorse. If he does not, then a meeting with Jewish groups can serve no purpose other than to kosher his invitation to the Festival – which we will play no part in,” said a spokesperson for the group in a statement Tuesday.

“Kanye West still has tracks on sale with titles such as ‘Heil Hitler’ and ‘Gas chamber’. We want to see genuine signs of remorse from the man who last year said he made $40 million by selling swastika t-shirts via an ad he ran during the Super Bowl.”

CAA added: “Cancelling this premature gig would be a start, since Mr West has previously made apologies right before album releases and concert tours and then retracted the apology and reverted to type.” CAA said they needed to be persuaded that this time “will be different.”

Jewish community organization the Board of Deputies of British Jews echoed CAA’s call for West to withdraw from Wireless.

“As such, we are willing to meet Kanye West as part of his journey of healing, but only after he agrees not to play the Wireless Festival this year,” said the organization’s president Phil Rosenberg in a statement sent to CNN Tuesday.

Organizers encourage ‘forgiveness’

Melvin Benn, managing director at Festival Republic, issued a statement Monday defending the decision to book West.

Benn said that previous comments made by West about Jews were “abhorrent,” but added that the rapper deserves forgiveness.

“Forgiveness and giving people a second chance are becoming a lost virtue in this ever-increasing divisive world,” Benn said.

“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,” added Benn.

UK Health Secretary Wes Streeting called Benn’s statement “absolutely absurd” and said West shouldn’t appear at the festival.

“Look at his behavior – not one or two off-color remarks. He released a song called “Heil Hitler,” plastered it across T-shirts, issued a mealymouthed and self-serving apology and now expects people to feel sorry for him,” Streeting told BBC Radio 4’s “Today” program Tuesday.

“I’m only too sorry that the festival organizers have chosen to platform him,” said Streeting. “If he wants forgiveness, it’s not my forgiveness that he needs, it’s the forgiveness of Jewish communities and I don’t think he’s done anything to earn it.”

Wireless is one of the UK’s biggest music festivals, attracting up to 150,000 attendees each year.

West has not performed in the UK since headlining Glastonbury in 2015.

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CNN’s Lianne Kolirin contributed to this report.