Listen to this article
Estimated 3 minutes
The audio version of this article is generated by AI-based technology. Mispronunciations can occur. We are working with our partners to continually review and improve the results.
Organizers for a music festival in London have cancelled the upcoming three-day event after the rapper Ye, who was slated to perform, has been barred from entering the U.K. following past antisemitic remarks.
The cancellation came after a number of government officials and Jewish organizations condemned the festival’s choice to have Ye — who changed his name from Kanye West in 2021 —perform.
Festival organizers said Ye had been banned from entering the U.K. in their message announcing the festival cancellation on their website.
The Home Office said the rapper made an application to travel to the U.K. on Monday via an Electronic Travel Authorization. The government agency told CBC News that Ye’s permission to travel was blocked because his presence would not be conducive to the public good.
Ye had been expected to headline in front of around 150,000 revellers from July 10 to 12 in London’s Finsbury Park.
Festival organizers 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.
Ye released a song called Heil Hitler last year, and sold a shirt bearing a swastika for days before Shopify took down the rapper’s merchandise website.
In January, the rapper took out a full-page ad in the Wall Street Journal to apologize for past antisemitic comments. Ye attributed his behaviour to a car crash that happened 25 years ago that he says left him with traumatic injuries and contributed to his bipolar disorder.
Commotion with Elamin Abdelmahmoud26:48Friday Wrap: Send Help, Kanye West’s apology, and Juno nominations
“In that fractured state, I gravitated toward the most destructive symbol I could find, the swastika, and even sold t-shirts bearing it,” Ye wrote at the time, adding that his mental health did not “excuse what he did.”
The rapper has made a number of apologies for his harmful words over the years.
In a statement on Tuesday, Ye said he “would be grateful for the opportunity to meet with members of the Jewish community in the U.K. 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.”
