Kanye West has been blocked from entering Britain after a row over the US rapper’s anti-Semitic comments.
Shabana Mahmood, the Home Secretary, has blocked his visit to headline the Wireless Festival in North London on the grounds that his presence would “not be conducive to the public good”.
As a result, organisers of the festival have cancelled the entire event, saying refunds would be issued to all ticketholders.
It was understood that West had applied for an Electronic Travel Authorisation (ETA) to enter the UK on Monday, but sources confirmed that the Government had denied him entry.
The Campaign Against Anti-Semitism said the Home Office had “clearly made the right decision”.
“For once, when it said that anti-Semitism has no place in the UK, [the Government] backed up its words with action,” a spokesman added.
West, who is legally known as Ye, had been at the centre of controversy since it was announced that he would be headlining the Wireless Festival in July.
The Government had faced growing calls to bar him from entering Britain over his previous anti-Semitic behaviour, which included releasing a song called Heil Hitler and selling a swastika T-shirt on his website.
As a result, organisers of the festival have cancelled the entire event, saying refunds would be issued to all ticketholders.
It was understood that West had applied for an Electronic Travel Authorisation (ETA) to enter the UK on Monday, but sources confirmed that the Government had denied him entry.
The Campaign Against Anti-Semitism said the Home Office had “clearly made the right decision”.
“For once, when it said that anti-Semitism has no place in the UK, [the Government] backed up its words with action,” a spokesman added.
West, who is legally known as Ye, had been at the centre of controversy since it was announced that he would be headlining the Wireless Festival in July.
The Government had faced growing calls to bar him from entering Britain over his previous anti-Semitic behaviour, which included releasing a song called Heil Hitler and selling a swastika T-shirt on his website.
Sir Keir Starmer previously said the decision to have West headline the festival was “deeply concerning”.
In response to mounting calls for his removal from the festival lineup, West said he wanted to come to London and “present a show of change, bringing unity, peace, and love through my music”.
The rapper said he “would be grateful for the opportunity to meet with members of the Jewish community in the UK in person, to listen”.
But his offer was rejected by the Jewish Leadership Council (JLC), which said it would not meet with West to “help save” the festival.
Melvin Benn, the managing director of Festival Republic, which organises Wireless Festival, said West deserved forgiveness for his comments and appeared to blame the musician’s mental health for his anti-Semitic remarks.
In response, Sir Keir’s spokesman said: “This is less about second chances. It is more about first principles of abhorrence of anti-Semitic statements. As the Health Secretary Wes Streeting said this morning, forgiveness follows repentance and redemption.”
By Msn..
