Ye, formerly known as Kanye West, has broken his silence on the row surrounding his Wireless Festival headline, updating his landmark open letter to offer to meet members of the UK Jewish community in person and pledging to “show change” through his actions.
The rapper delivered the updated letter via Festival Republic on Tuesday morning, the day after Wireless managing director Melvin Benn issued a personal statement urging the public to offer West “forgiveness and hope.”
In the new addition to his letter, Ye wrote: “I’ve been following the conversation around Wireless and want 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. I would be grateful for the opportunity to meet with members of the Jewish community in the UK in person, to listen. I know words aren’t enough — I’ll have to show change through my actions. If you’re open, I’m here.”
The update expands on his original full-page advertisement published in the Wall Street Journal on 26 January 2026, in which West set out in detail the personal and medical circumstances he says contributed to his behaviour in recent years. That letter, also titled “To Those I’ve Hurt,” revealed that a 2002 car accident — the same crash that broke his jaw and inspired his debut album — caused an injury to the right frontal lobe of his brain that went undiagnosed until 2023, when he received a bipolar type-1 diagnosis.
In the letter, West described how the disorder shaped his most controversial actions. “In that fractured state, I gravitated toward the most destructive symbol I could find, the swastika, and even sold t-shirts bearing it,” he wrote. “I regret and am deeply mortified by my actions in that state, and am committed to accountability, treatment, and meaningful change. It does not excuse what I did, though. I am not a Nazi or an antisemite. I love Jewish people.”
West also disclosed that in early 2025 he fell into a “four-month long manic episode of psychotic, paranoid and impulsive behaviour” that he said “destroyed my life.” He wrote that there were times during that period when he “didn’t want to be here anymore”, adding that hitting rock bottom prompted his wife to encourage him to finally seek professional help. He said he has since found stability through medication, therapy, exercise and what he described as “clean living.”
“I’m not asking for sympathy, or a free pass, though I aspire to earn your forgiveness,” he wrote. “I write today simply to ask for your patience and understanding as I find my way home.”
The letter’s Wireless-specific addition now places the ball firmly in the court of the UK Jewish community organisations that have led opposition to his booking. The Board of Deputies of British Jews accused Wireless of “profiteering from racism” when the headline slot was announced last month, while the Jewish Leadership Council described the decision as “deeply irresponsible.”
Last night, in response to Melvin Benn’s statement defending the booking, Phil Rosenberg, President of the Board of Deputies, responded: “After a week of Wireless Festival avoiding any media, Melvin Benn’s statement will not reassure many within the Jewish or other communities against whom Kanye West’s invective was directed over a much longer period than his more recent apology.
“The two key facts remain that Kanye West proclaimed himself a Nazi, and that Wireless stands to benefit financially from his performance. Indeed, we note that concern was Mr Benn’s initial reaction to the idea of inviting Kanye West. It remains ours.
It is time for Wireless to do the decent thing and rescind an invitation they never should have offered. Kanye West may well be on the path to health and healing. We sincerely hope that he is. But the space to test this is not over three days on the Wireless main stage.”
West is booked to headline all three nights of Wireless Festival, 10, 11 and 12 July at Finsbury Park, London, in what would be his first UK performance in 11 years. Whether he will be permitted to take to the stage remains uncertain: Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood is still reported to be reviewing whether West should be allowed to enter the country, a process that has yet to produce a formal decision.
Full apology letter from Kanye West:
To Those I’ve Hurt
By Ye, Formerly known as Kanye West
Twenty-five years ago, I was in a car accident that broke my jaw and caused injury to the right frontal lobe of my brain. At the time, the focus was on the visible damage – the fracture, the swelling, and the immediate physical trauma. The deeper injury, the one inside my skull, went unnoticed.
Comprehensive scans were not done, neurological exams were limited, and the possibility of a frontal-lobe injury was never raised. It wasn’t properly diagnosed until 2023. That medical oversight caused serious damage to my mental health and led to my bipolar type-1 diagnosis.
Bipolar disorder comes with its own defense system. Denial. When you’re manic, you don’t think you’re sick. You think everyone else is overreacting. You feel like you’re seeing the world more clearly than ever, when in reality you’re losing your grip entirely.
Once people label you as ‘crazy’, you feel as if you cannot contribute anything meaningful to the world. It’s easy for people to joke and laugh it off when in fact this is a very serious debilitating disease you can die from. According to the World Health Organization and Cambridge University, people with bipolar disorder have a life expectancy that is shortened by ten to fifteen years on average, and a 2x-3x higher all-cause mortality rate than the general population. This is on par with severe heart disease, type-1 diabetes, HIV, and cancer – all lethal and fatal if left untreated.
The scariest thing about this disorder is how persuasive it is when it tells you: You don’t need help. It makes you blind, but convinced you have insight. You feel powerful, certain, and unstoppable.
I lost touch with reality. Things got worse the longer I ignored the problem. I said and did things I deeply regret. Some of the people I love the most, I treated the worst. You endured fear, confusion, humiliation, and the exhaustion of trying to love someone who was, at times, unrecognizable. Looking back, I became detached from my true self.
In that fractured state, I gravitated toward the most destructive symbol I could find, the swastika, and even sold t-shirts bearing it. One of the difficult aspects of having bipolar type-1 are the disconnected moments – many of which I still cannot recall – that lead to poor judgment and reckless behavior that oftentimes feels like an out-of-body experience. I regret and am deeply mortified by my actions in that state, and am committed to accountability, treatment, and meaningful change. It does not excuse what I did, though. I am not a Nazi or an antisemite. I love Jewish people.
To the black community — which held me down through all of the highs and lows and the darkest of times. The black community is, unquestionably, the foundation of who I am. I am so sorry to have let you down. I love us.
In early 2025, I fell into a four-month long manic episode of psychotic, paranoid and impulsive behavior that destroyed my life. As the situation became increasingly unsustainable, there were times I didn’t want to be here anymore.
Having bipolar disorder is not a state of constant mental illness. When you go into the manic episode, you are ill at that point. When you are not in an episode, you are completely ‘normal’. And that’s when the wreckage from the illness hits the hardest. Hitting rock bottom a few months ago, my wife encouraged me to finally get help.
I have found comfort in Reddit forums of all places. Different people speak of being in manic or depressive episodes of a similar nature. I read their stories and realized that I was not alone. It’s not just me who ruins their entire life once a year despite taking meds every day and being told by the so-called best doctors in the world that I am not bipolar, but merely experiencing “symptoms of autism.”
My words as a leader in my community have real global impact and influence. In my mania, I lost complete sight of that.
As I find my new baseline and new center through an effective regime of medication, therapy, exercise and clean living, I have newfound, much-needed clarity. I am pouring my energy into positive, meaningful art: music, clothing, design, and other new ideas to help the world.
I’m not asking for sympathy, or a free pass, though I aspire to earn your forgiveness. I write today simply to ask for your patience and understanding as I find my way home.
I’ve also been following the conversation around Wireless and want 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. I would be grateful for the opportunity to meet with members of the Jewish community in the UK in person, to listen. I know words aren’t enough — I’ll have to show change through my actions. If you’re open, I’m here.
With love,
Ye
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In this article: Kanye West, Wireless Festival, Festival Republic, The Wall Street Journal, Board of Deputies of British Jews, Jewish Leadership Council, London, Finsbury Park, Shabana Mahmood, Home Secretary, World Health Organization, University of Cambridge, bipolar disorder, autism, Reddit, swastika, Nazi Party, antisemitism, United Kingdom, Jewish people. Generated by Wikidata Schema Link Builder.
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1 comment
The main problem with Kanye West is that he doesn’t like himself! Nobody seems to have noticed that fact. I’m sure that he doesn’t have any mirrors in his home so that he doesn’t have to look at himself. The prize fool is even singing the praises of Adolf Hitler et al.
Oh dear, oh dear, oh dear. I’ll explain all of the above.
You will have noticed how dear Kanye is never, ever seen with a woman with his colour skin. He makes sure of that. Every female associated with him is wht. skinned! In his eyes, blk-skinned women are inferior.
I don’t think he realises that had Adolf Hitler had access to blk people, THEY are the ones who’d have filled the concentration camps instead of the Jews. Dear Kanye isn’t bright enough to realise this, though.
I don’t think he wonder HOW he was brought up. Was he brought up to think of ‘his people’ (those looking like him with dark skins)
as not being good enough? As being somewhat inferior? As not being fit to be associated with? To only date wht. women because they are superior and being associated with them makes one feel superior too?
I’m blk and certainly wouldn’t give West a first look, let alone a second one. I don’t know and probably won’t like his music either. There’s nothing about him, not one iota, that tells me that I’m missing out. Frankly, I think he’s a waste of space who urgently needs to apologise to the Jewish community wherever they are.