Wireless Festival boss has taken it upon himself to forgive Kanye West instead of the Jewish community he wronged
It is time for Wireless to do the decent thing and rescind an invitation they never should have offered in the first place, writes Phil Rosenberg
After a week of Wireless Festival declining any comment to the media, the statement by Festival Republic Managing Director Melvin Benn did not reassure the many within the Jewish or other communities who were concerned by Kanye West's invitation to perform at the Festival in July.
Listen to this article
The two key facts remain that Kanye West proclaimed himself a Nazi and that Wireless stands to benefit financially from his performance.
Melvin Benn, who is not himself Jewish, deciding to forgive Kanye West on our behalf, for comments not directed at him or people like him, is inappropriate.
Particularly when it is his businesses which are seeking to gain from having Kanye West there, he is self-evidently in a position too compromised to make this judgement objectively.
Kanye West did not just call himself a Nazi; he released a song called "Heil Hitler".
It is no momentary thing to write a song and turn it into a music video. These things take time and money, which Kanye West was clearly willing to devote to this cause.
His offensive comments have not only been directed against the Jewish community, either. He described the 400-year enslavement of Black people as "like a choice".
Wireless Festival's own Charter states, "We will not tolerate discrimination because of someone's disability, religion, race, gender, sexual orientation, or gender identity in any form.
"Discriminatory words or actions have no place at Rockstar presents Wireless Finsbury Park".
It is hard to imagine any ideology that goes further against these values than Nazism.
One wonders what the consequences are for breaching this Charter.
If a paying guest breaches it, do they get thrown out?
If a staff member breaches it, do they get the sack?
What happens if it is the management themselves are undermining these values? Do they have to resign? Surely, there must be consequences for such an egregious lapse of judgement.
Kanye West may well be on the path to health and healing. We sincerely hope that he is. But, as his invective was directed over a much longer period than his more recent apology, it is just too soon to tell.
It is also not an inherent trait of people with bipolar disorder to claim support for Adolf Hitler. Either way, the space to test whether Kanye West is truly past all this is certainly not over three days on the Wireless main stage.
It is time for Wireless to do the decent thing and rescind an invitation they never should have offered in the first place.
___________________
Phil Rosenberg is the President of the Board of Deputies of British Jews.
LBC Opinion provides a platform for diverse opinions on current affairs and matters of public interest.
The views expressed are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the official LBC position.
To contact us, email opinion@lbc.co.uk