The pushback to the booking of Ye (formerly known as Kanye West) to headline this summer’s Wireless Festival in London for all three nights (July 10-12) has come swiftly and decisively. In addition to reports that title sponsor Pepsi has pulled its support, along with liquor giant Diageo, pay processing partner PayPal, energy drinks make Rockstar Energy and Anheuser-Busch, No. 10 Downing Street has also not pulled punches in decrying the booking of the rapper who has a history of employing hateful antisemitic language and symbols in his art and public statements.
Then, on Tuesday (April 7), BBC News reported that the nation’s government has blocked the rapper’s permission to travel to the U.K. for the shows. The Home Office reportedly told the news outlet that Ye made an application to travel to the U.K. on Monday (April 6) through an Electronic Travel Authorization (ETA), but that the application was denied on the grounds that his presence in the country would “not be conducive to the public good.”
British Prime Minister Keir Starmer told The Guardian last week that he felt it was, “deeply concerning that Kanye West has been booked to perform at Wireless despite his previous antisemitic remarks and celebration of Nazism. Antisemitism in any form is abhorrent and must be confronted clearly and firmly wherever it appears. Everyone has a responsibility to ensure Britain is a place where Jewish people feel safe and secure.”
At press time spokespeople for Ye, the U.K. Home Office and festival organizers had not returned Billboard‘s request for comment on the reported ban.
Ye has faced criticism in recent years over repeated antisemitic actions and statements, including releasing a song entitled “Heil Hitler,” professing a love for Nazis and reviled Third Reich leader Adolf Hitler, selling T-shirts featuring swastikas and the white nationalist phrase “White Lives Matter” among many other antisemitic incidents.
The U.S. is a “non-visa national” country, which means American citizens don’t need a pre-arranged visa for short-term performance-based visits to the U.K. ranging from 30 days to six months, according to official guidance rules. Among the reasons for a denial of entry are a history of criminal convictions, including conviction of a criminal offense in the U.K. or overseas which resulted in a sentence of 12 months or more. In addition, an applicant can be denied for involvement in extremism, with section 8.4 of the ETA travel code describing denials for those whose “presence in the U.K. [is] not conducive to the public good.” The latter statute appears to have triggered the travel block on Ye.
On Monday, Melvin Benn, the managing director of Wireless Festival promoter Festival Republic, stood by his decision to book Ye while admitting, “What Ye has said in the past about Jews and Hitler is as abhorrent to me as it is to the Jewish community.” Adding that someone close to him in his personal life suffers from mental illness led to him forgiving and moving on from “many episodes of dispicable behaviour,” saying “I have become a person of forgiveness and hope in all aspects of my life, including work … Forgiveness and giving people a second chance are becoming a lost virtue in this ever-increasing divisive world and I would ask people to reflect on their instant comments of disgust at the likelihood of him performing (as was mine) and offer some forgiveness and hope to him as I have decided to do.”
It wouldn’t be the first time the government has taken such action against an American artist with past legal issues. In 2022, Lil Wayne had to pull out of the Strawberries and Creem festival at the 11th hour after being denied entry to the United Kingdom.
The show was slated to be Weezy’s first U.K. performance in 14 years, after his 2011 U.K. shows were canceled over a rejected visa application, which, as in the 2022 case, was due to Wayne’s past criminal record, with a Home Office spokesperson explaining at the time that any person who “has been sentenced to a custodial sentence of 12 months or more must have their application refused.” The statement appeared to reference a guilty plea by Wayne (born Dwayne Michael Carter Jr.) to possession of a firearm by a convicted felon in December 2020; Wayne was later pardoned by Donald Trump on the former and current president’s last full day in office in January 2021.
Similarly, Tyler, the Creator was banned from performing in the U.K. in 2015 ahead of planned slots at the Reading and Leeds Festivals that year due to past homophobic and misogynistic lyrics. Singer Chris Brown was forced to postpone his planned U.K. tour in 2010 after his visa was denied in connection with his sentence for a vicious assault on then-girlfriend Rihanna in 2009. Brown pleaded guilty to felony assault against Rihanna in August 2009 and was sentenced to five years’ probation and six months of community service in connection with the singer’s beating of Rihanna on the eve of that year’s Grammy Awards.
Prior to the Ye travel ban, the U.K.’s Campaign Against Antisemitism also weighed in, saying in a statement, “The Prime Minister is right to be deeply concerned that Wireless wants to headline someone whose anti-Jewish bigotry has gone as far as recording a track titled ‘Heil Hitler’ less than a year ago,” noting that the government can “ban anyone” from entering the nation who is not a citizen based on the “public good” finding, while urging authorities to do just that.
The organization applauded the move to bar West in a statement on Tuesday, saying, “The Government has clearly made the right decision here. For once, when it said that antisemitism has no place in the UK, it backed up its words with action. Someone who has boasted of making tens of millions of dollars from selling swastika t-shirts and who released a song called ‘Heil Hitler’ just months ago clearly would not be conducive to the public good in the UK. Wireless Festival, in its desperate quest for profit, defended the invitation until the end. That is shameful, and its sponsors should continue to stay away.”
This is a developing story….
