Streeting says festival bosses ‘should be ashamed of themselves’ for booking West
Kanye West’s booking for Wireless has drawn criticism from government.
Wes Streeting, the health secretary, told Sky News that he was “disappointed” that the organisers had booked him to headline for three nights – after Sir Keir Starmer said he thought the decision was “deeply disappointing”.
Streeting warned the festival’s bosses were “too blind” to see the dangers of their decision.
Asked if West should be allowed into the UK to peform, Streeting said: “That’s a decision for the Home Office and I’m not going to prejudice their decision about this case.
“What I would say is that Kanye West has no business headlining the Wireless Festival. I think organisers showed a terrible error of judgement in inviting him.
“These weren’t a couple of off-colour remarks. These were, I think, a pattern of behaviour.
“I’m appalled actually. You look at the context in which Kanye West operates. He’s got enormous fame, enormous reach. And antisemitism – hatred – against Jewish people in this country and elsewhere has been rising.
“We’ve seen it manifesting itself not just through online behaviour, verbal abuse, but through physical attacks, including in Heaton Park in Manchester, where people died at the hands of that attack. We saw it more recently with an attack on a charity in north London, a Jewish charity that runs an ambulance service.
“Antisemitism is serious, it can be deadly and people like Kanye West, who have an enormous platform, fame, reach, they have to accept the responsibility that comes with that. And I don’t think he has. I’m only too disappointed the festival organisers are too blind to see it.”