PepsiCo has pulled its sponsorship of London's Wireless Festival over organizers' decision to book Kanye West as a headliner, marking the latest corporate retreat from the controversial artist - and raising uncomfortable questions about why festivals keep booking him in the first place.

The soft drink giant's withdrawal follows public criticism from UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer, who called the booking "deeply concerning" given West's history of antisemitic remarks. Starmer questioned whether someone who has "spread such hatred" should be given a prominent platform.

For Pepsi, it's a familiar playbook. The company previously ended its relationship with West in 2022 after he praised Adolf Hitler and made repeated antisemitic statements on social media and in interviews. So this isn't a surprise - it's cleanup from a booking that never should have happened.

Here's what baffles me: why do festival promoters keep acting shocked when this blows up?

West remains a generational talent. The College Dropout is still brilliant. My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy is still a masterpiece. But his repeated, unapologetic bigotry has consequences - or at least, it's supposed to. Major brands won't touch him. Streaming platforms have distanced themselves. His Adidas partnership, worth hundreds of millions, is long dead.

Yet festival organizers look at this radioactive landscape and think: "Yeah, let's headline him at a major UK event. What could go wrong?"

What goes wrong is exactly this: corporate sponsors flee, elected officials condemn you, and you're left scrambling to explain why giving a platform to someone who traffics in hate speech seemed like a good business decision.