American rapper Kanye West has been blocked from entering Australia over a song glorifying Nazi leader Adolf Hitler.
Australia’s home affairs minister Tony Burke revealed that his department had cancelled West’s valid visa after the song Heil Hitler was released in early May.
West’s song has been widely condemned and has been banned on most platforms. The highly controversial rapper, also known as Ye, identifies as a Nazi and is known for his anti-Semitic comments. He is married to Australian designer Bianca Censori.
Mr Burke revealed the visa cancellation in an interview with the Australian Broadcasting Corporation, during a discussion about the visa cancellation of another person over their Islamophobic comments.
“If someone argued that anti-Semitism was rational, I would not let them come here,” Mr Burke said, while bringing up West’s case.
“[West] has been coming to Australia for a long time… and he’s made a lot of offensive comments.
“But my officials looked at it again once he released the Heil Hitler song, and he no longer has a valid visa in Australia.”
It is not clear if West has been permanently banned from Australia. Mr Burke said that visa applications would be reassessed each time they are made, in accordance with Australian law.
But when asked if any visa ban on West would be sustainable, Mr Burke said: “I think that what’s not sustainable is to import hatred… We have enough problems in this country already without deliberately importing bigotry.”
It is not the first time Australia considered blocking West. In 2023, Australia’s education minister Jason Clare had also condemned West’s “awful” comments on Hitler and the Holocaust, and suggested he could be denied entry.
Amid the current backlash, Heil Hitler raked up millions of views within a day of its release in May.
The song is part of the Grammy-winning artist’s new album WW3, which also contains other tracks with controversial lyrics.
The music video for Heil Hitler, released on 8 May, shows a group of men wearing animal skins and chanting the song’s title. It has been banned on streaming platforms including Spotify, Apple Music and YouTube.
But shortly after its release, West said he was “done with anti-Semitism” and released a new version of Heil Hitler – titled Hallelujah. The new song replaced earlier references to Nazism with lyrics relating to Christianity.
West has in recent years sparked controversy for his anti-Semitic remarks. Earlier this year, he declared himself a Nazi and retracted an apology for earlier comments.
In 2022, sportswear giant Adidas announced it was ending its partnership with West over his anti-Semitism.
Late last year, the company said it had reached a settlement with him to end all legal proceedings between them.
By BBC News
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