David Schwimmer Says Kanye West Hasn’t Properly Apologized

The Wireless Festival, which is placing tickets for Ye’s three-night headlining gig on sale this week, is holding agency against the stress to cancel the rapper, which is coming not just from sponsors however from authorities officers in the U.Okay., including the prime minister.

Melvin Benn, who serves as managing director at Festival Republic, the U.Okay. promoter behind Wireless, issued an announcement to Variety on Monday defending Ye based on his personal experiences coping with people who are suffering from psychological health points. “I have witnessed many episodes of despicable behaviour that I have had to forgive and move on from,” he wrote. “If I wasn’t before, I have become a person of forgiveness and hope in all aspects of my life, including work.”

He called Ye’s earlier declarations about Jews and Hitler “abhorrent,” however that they’re “not giving him a platform to extol opinion of whatever nature” however only to carry out songs that are “enjoyed by millions.” “Forgiveness and giving people a second chance are becoming a lost virtue in this ever-increasing divisive world,” he acknowledged, “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.”

Festival Republic, which payments itself as “the U.K.’s leading festival and event promoter,” is a part of the Live Nation Entertainment Group.

Although Ye’s look headlining the pageant had been controversial since it was announced last week, and the mayor of London had disavowed it, the furor took on more steam Sunday after Prime Minister Keir Starmer condemned Ye’s look in an announcement to the British newspaper the Sun. “It is deeply concerning Kanye West has been booked to perform at Wireless despite his previous antisemitic remarks and celebration of Nazism,” he said. “Antisemitism in any form is abhorrent and must be confronted firmly wherever it appears. Everyone has a responsibility to ensure Britain is a place where Jewish people feel safe.”

Schwimmer has a historical past of trying to carry Ye publicly accountable.

In February 2025, a few days after Ye posted a sequence of antisemitic tweets on X (including “I’m a Nazi” and “I love Hitler” and an avowal that he was “never apologizing for my Jewish comments”), the “Friends” actor took to his Instagram account to publicly demand that Elon Musk bar him from the app. “We can’t stop a deranged bigot from spewing hate-filled, ignorant bile,” Schwimmer wrote then, “but we CAN stop giving him a megaphone, Mr. Musk. Kanye West has 32.7 million followers on your platform, X. That’s twice as many people than the number of Jews in existence. His sick hate speech results in REAL LIFE violence against Jews.”

In his latest message, Schwimmer requires Ye to “officially pull the song “Heil Hitler” and explicitly, immediately and publicly disavow it.” In fact, the rapper did try and withdraw the tune from circulation after first releasing it last May, changing it with an alternate version titled “Hallelujah,” and later in the yr having copyright strikes issued to followers who had been still circulating it, after he reportedly met with a rabbi. The tune grew to become controversial again in January this yr when Nick Fuentes, Andrew Tate and other far-right influencers sang together with it in a Miami Beach nightclub.

Schwimmer’s full assertion, as posted on Instagram:

Thanks Pepsi, PayPal & Diageo.

It’s nice to see firms with ethical readability.

These manufacturers have pulled sponsorship of Wireless Festival, which disgraced itself lately by scheduling Ye (previously Kanye West) to headline.

Unlike Wireless and Festival Republic, they determined to not platform an artist who grew to become considered one of the most recognizable hate-mongering bigots in the world – while the other orgs search only to revenue from one.

For years, Ye used his appreciable superstar to advertise hate and violence against Jews, spreading antisemitic lies and stereotypes to his 33 million followers — more than twice the variety of Jewish people alive today.

Less than a yr in the past Ye launched the tune “Heil Hitler” (rightly banned from all major streaming platforms), bought swastika T-shirts on his web site, claimed he was a Nazi and threatened to kill Jews.

But about two months in the past he professed to apologize for all that in a paid advert he took out in the Wall Street Journal — maybe a part of a PR scheme to assuage people proper before his long-planned return to the stage.

Remember: Ye’s apologized before, only to retract that apology and double down on his virulent hatred of Jewish people.

This time, he explained it was a health condition that had made him particularly goal Jews with hate speech and threats of violence.

So he’s launching a comeback, having lately performed at SoFi Stadium in California (Kroenke household had been you conscious?) supported by Lauryn Hill, Travis Scott, CeeLo Green and Don Toliver — artists who appear to shrug off his historical past of rabid antisemitism. Or perhaps endorse it? Hard to say, since none of them ever publicly denounced his past remarks.

The factor is, Ye’s phrases and actions the last few years have induced incalculable, irreparable harm. He has fueled world broad hatred and impressed violence against Jews in all places, and his erratic conduct has repeatedly shown he can’t be trusted. It’s positive for his well-known friends to pat him on the again and say, “It’s all good.” But the community he has harmed most has no purpose to belief his apology is authentic.

If he was honest, he would take action to restore the harm he induced.

He might formally pull the tune “Heil Hitler” and explicitly, immediately and publicly disavow it.

He might meet with Jewish leaders or artists to have a public dialog about his rehabilitation and to make amends.

He might supply to donate a portion of his hefty Wireless earnings to at least one or more Jewish charitable organizations in the UK – the place assaults against Jews, synagogues and Jewish companies are among the highest ever recorded.

An apology letter is just that: Words on paper. An commercial, producing publicity before a live performance tour. It doesn’t erase years of abuse.

I consider in forgiveness, nevertheless it takes a lot more than this. Then again, I don’t revenue from his showing at Wireless.

Until Ye demonstrates a dedication to constructing again belief — not only with the Jewish community, however with ALL the followers he left heartbroken and disenchanted by his hateful rhetoric the last a number of years — he shouldn’t be granted a platform to carry out.

To accomplish that is to be tacitly complicit in what these firms know to be incorrect, unethical and immoral.

I hope Budweiser, Beat Box Beverages, Drip water and Big Green Coach come to the same conclusion.