Ye blocked from entering UK to headline festival

London: Ye, the rapper formerly known as Kanye West, has been barred from entering the UK where he was scheduled to perform at the Wireless Festival in July.

It came after government officials condemned Ye’s history of antisemitic remarks. The festival’s organisers confirmed the ban and said the entire three-day festival was being cancelled as a result.

Ye’s travel authorisation had been blocked on the grounds that the performer’s presence in the UK would not be “conducive to the public good,” the BBC said, citing the Home Office.

Ye was booked to perform in front of around 150,000 revellers on July 10-12 at the open-air festival in London’s Finsbury Park.

Earlier, a senior member of the British government said Ye should “absolutely not” play at the festival. Ye had responded to the controversy by offering to meet members of the UK’s Jewish community and show he has changed since provoking outrage with antisemitic statements.

Festival organisers had been under mounting pressure from sponsors and politicians to cancel the gigs by the rapper, who has drawn widespread condemnation for making antisemitic remarks and voicing admiration for Adolf Hitler.

Last year, Ye released a song called Heil Hitler and advertised a swastika T-shirt for sale on his website. The 48-year-old apologised in January with a letter, published as a full-page advertisement in The Wall Street Journal. He said his bipolar disorder led him to fall into “a four-month-long, manic episode of psychotic, paranoid and impulsive behaviour that destroyed my life.”

Wireless sponsors Pepsi, Rockstar Energy and Diageo have pulled out of the festival since Ye was announced as the headliner, and Starmer called the booking “deeply concerning.”

In a statement on Tuesday, Ye, who changed his name in 2021, said he “would be grateful for the opportunity to meet with members of the Jewish community in the UK in person, to listen”.

“I know words aren’t enough – I’ll have to show change through my actions,” he said. “If you’re open, I’m here.”

Phil Rosenberg, president of the Board of Deputies of British Jews, said the group would be willing to meet with the musician if he pulled out of the festival.

“The Jewish community will want to see a genuine remorse and change before believing that the appropriate place to test this sincerity is on the main stage at the Wireless Festival,” Rosenberg said.

Organiser Festival Republic stood by Ye. In a statement issued on Monday, managing director Melvin Benn urged people to offer the performer “forgiveness and hope”.

“We are not giving him a platform to extol opinion of whatever nature, only to perform the songs that are currently played on the radio stations in our country and the streaming platforms in our country and listened to and enjoyed by millions,” the statement said.

UK Health Secretary Wes Streeting dismissed the organisers’ statement as “absurd” and said Ye should “absolutely not” perform at Wireless.

A representative for Ye didn’t reply to a request for comment.

AP

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