London (AFP) – The UK government on Tuesday blocked US rapper Kanye West from entering the country due to his past antisemitic outbursts, prompting organisers of a festival he was to headline to cancel the July event. The disgraced rapper had submitted Monday an application to travel to Britain, but it was refused on the grounds that his presence would not be conducive to the public good, a UK government source confirmed.
The organisers of the Wireless Festival in London, where West — now known as Ye — had been booked to play all three nights in July, swiftly cancelled the event. “As a result of the Home Office banning YE from entering the United Kingdom, Wireless Festival has been forced to cancel,” organisers said on Instagram. They added all ticket holders would receive “an automatic full refund.” Tickets had only gone on sale on Tuesday.
Controversy around West headlining the festival grew over the weekend, with a string of the event’s sponsors pulling out, including drinks giants Pepsi and Diageo. Prime Minister Keir Starmer, who on Saturday had called booking West “deeply concerning,” said Tuesday that the 48-year-old hip-hop star “should never have been invited to headline Wireless.” “This government stands firmly with the Jewish community, and we will not stop in our fight to confront and defeat the poison of antisemitism,” Starmer added on X.
West, who last performed in Britain when he headlined the Glastonbury festival in 2015, has been heavily criticised for making antisemitic remarks and voicing admiration for Adolf Hitler. In May 2025, he released a song called “Heil Hitler,” months after advertising a swastika t-shirt for sale on his website. The song was banned by major streaming platforms. The US rapper subsequently expressed regret for his conduct, blaming it on his bipolar disorder.
As the row around his planned London performance heated, West had offered to meet members of Britain’s Jewish community. In an advert in the Wall Street Journal headlined “To Those I’ve Hurt,” West said his “only goal” was “to 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,” the rapper added.
Phil Rosenberg, president of the Board of Deputies of British Jews, welcomed the government intervention but said “the situation could and should have been resolved much earlier.” “We hope that lessons are learned across the industry,” he added. “Music festivals should be places where all communities feel welcome, not venues that platform individuals with records of profiteering from antisemitism, racism, and other repulsive views.”
But Nigel Farage, leader of the hard-right Reform UK party and a critic of so-called cancel culture, branded such bans “a dangerous path to go down.” “If we start banning people from entering the country because we don’t like what they say, I worry where that ends up,” he said, while calling West’s past comments “really vile.” Farage has in recent months been dogged by antisemitism allegations dating back to his school days.
West’s European comeback tour had already proved contentious prior to the furore in Britain. In France, the mayor of Marseille said the rapper was “not welcome” for a concert planned there in June. Londoners in Finsbury Park, where the Wireless Festival would have been staged, appeared well aware of the controversy. “It’s complicated,” filmmaker Michael Elomi-Honnas told AFP. “If you have a bipolar episode, I think you can say really horrific and crazy things.” Meanwhile, teacher Edith Utulu, 48, argued “they’re just blowing everything out of proportion.”
© 2024 AFP
