Ye blocked from entering UK to headline Wireless Festival
Jill Lawless
Updated ,first published
London: Rapper Ye, formerly known as Kanye West, has been banned from entering the UK, where he is scheduled to headline the Wireless Festival in July, following a backlash for his anti-Semitic rhetoric.
Festival organizers canceled the 3-day outdoor event due to the travel ban and said that ticket buyers would be refunded.
You have applied for an electronic travel permit to visit the United Kingdom, but it has been blocked by the government on the grounds that your presence in the country would not be “in the public interest”.
“Kanye West should never have been invited to headline Wireless,” Prime Minister Keir Starmer said in a statement posted on social media.
“This government stands firmly with the Jewish community and we will not stop in our fight to confront and defeat the poison of antisemitism. We will always take the necessary steps to protect the people and uphold our values.”
The rapper, who changed his name in 2021, was expected to play his first UK dates in more than a decade in front of around 150,000 revelers over three nights at Wireless Festival in London’s Finsbury Park from July 10-12. Other events of the festival have not been announced yet.
The event’s organizers were under increasing pressure from sponsors and politicians to cancel concerts by the rapper, who was widely condemned for making anti-Semitic statements and expressing admiration for Adolf Hitler.
Last year, he released a song called Ye. Hi Hitler and advertised the sale of a swastika T-shirt on its website. Authorities in Australia canceled the musician’s visa in July following the release of the single.
The 48-year-old man apologized in a letter published as a full-page ad in January. Wall StreetJournal. He said his bipolar disorder plunged him into “a four-month-long manic episode of psychotic, paranoid and impulsive behavior that destroyed my life.”
Wireless sponsors Pepsi, Rockstar Energy and Diageo withdrew from the festival after Ye was announced as the headliner.
In a statement on Tuesday before his travel permit was revoked, Ye said he would “be grateful for the opportunity to meet and listen in person to members of the Jewish community in the UK.”
“I know words are not enough; I will have to show change through my actions,” he said. “If it’s open, I’m here.”
Phil Rosenberg, chairman of the Board of Deputies of British Jews, said the group would be willing to meet with the musician if he withdrew from the festival.
“The Jewish community will want to see real repentance and change before believing that the Wireless Festival main stage is the appropriate place to test that sincerity,” Rosenberg said.
The organizer, Festival Republic, was on Ye’s side. In a statement released on Monday, general manager Melvin Benn urged people to offer “forgiveness and hope” to the artist.
The statement said, “We do not give him a platform to glorify ideas of any nature, we only allow him to sing the songs that are currently played on the radio stations and broadcast platforms in our country, which are listened to and liked by millions.”
Announcing the cancellation, Festival Republic said that “Multiple stakeholders were consulted prior to booking and no concerns were highlighted at the time.”
“Anti-Semitism in all its forms is abhorrent and we recognize the real and personal impact these issues have,” the statement said. “As Ye said today, he acknowledges that words alone are not enough, and yet he still hopes to be given the opportunity to start a conversation with the Jewish community in the UK.”
The Community Security Trust, which works to protect British Jews, said the government had made the right decision.
“Anti-Semitic hatred should have no place in society, and cultural leaders must play a role in ensuring this,” the statement said.
“People who express genuine and meaningful remorse for their previous antisemitic behavior will always receive understanding from the Jewish community, but this process must precede such public rehabilitation.”
A representative for Ye did not respond to a request for comment.
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