Britain has blocked US rapper Kanye West from travelling to the country to headline London’s Wireless Festival in July over his past antisemitic comments and celebration of Nazism.
Organiser Festival Republic said his permission to enter and perform in Britain was withdrawn yesterday and the three-day festival had been cancelled and refunds would be issued to all ticket holders.
The government had been under pressure to deny entry to West, now known as Ye, after he was named headline act for the Wireless Festival on April 1.
Several major companies have cancelled their sponsorship of the event.
British Prime Minister Keir Starmer said the artist should never have been invited to headline the festival.
“We will always take the action necessary to protect the public and uphold our values,” he said.
Earlier yesterday, Ye offered to meet Britain’s Jewish community, saying his only goal was to come to London and present a show of change, “bringing unity, peace and love through music”.
He has performed in the US and Mexico City this year but was barred from Australia last July after releasing ‘Heil Hitler’, a song promoting Nazism.
He also advertised a swastika T-shirt for sale on his website.
He took a full-page advertisement in the Wall Street Journal in January to apologise, attributing his behaviour to an undiagnosed brain injury and an untreated bipolar disorder.
He also apologised for past expressions of admiration for Adolf Hitler and use of swastika imagery.
Ye said he had been following the conversation around Wireless.
“I would be grateful for the opportunity to meet with members of the Jewish community in the UK in person, to listen,” he said.
“I know words aren’t enough – I’ll have to show change through my actions. If you’re open, I’m here.”
Health Secretary Wes Streeting said Ye’s actions were not just a handful of “off-colour remarks”, but “a pattern of behaviour – the releasing of a song called ‘Heil Hitler’, plastering that slogan across t-shirts, then using bipolar disorder as an excuse”.
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