The Wireless Festival calling for people to give Ye, the rapper formerly known as Kanye West, a second chance.

After naming the rapper as their headline performer, Wireless has been at the center of significant controversy, with multiple sponsors already pulling out of the event, such as Pepsi, Paypal, and alcoholic beverage companies Diageo and Budweiser/Corona brewer AB InBev.

The backlash stems from Ye‘s antisemitic remarks and behavior. He also previously wrote an apology letter that was published in The Wall Street Journal where he went into detail about his bipolar disorder.

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The managing director of the festival, Melvin Benn, shared a statement with Entertainment Weekly regarding the backlash.

“I am a deeply committed anti-fascist and have been all my adult life. I lived on a kibbutz for many months in the 1970’s that was attacked on October 7th, am pro Jew and the Jewish state, while being equally committed to a Palestinian state,” it read.

Benn said that the rapper has “a legal right” to perform in London, where the festival takes place.

Regarding Ye‘s remarks, Benn wrote, “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.”

The statement continued, “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.”

Even before sponsors started canceling, U.K. Prime Minister Keir Starmer condemned the festival for booking Ye. A source even told NBC News that the government was reviewing the “Heartless” rapper’s permission to enter the U.K.

Hours after that, the festival confirmed it would not be removing him as headliner.

Aubrey O’Day is responding to backlash after she attended two Ye concerts back to back.