Kanye West blocked by government from entering UK to headline Wireless Music Festival

It came after government officials condemned Ye’s history of anti-Semitic comments.

Festival organizers confirmed the ban and said the entire three-day festival was canceled as a result.

Ye’s travel permit was blocked because the artist’s presence in Britain would not be “conducive to the public interest,” the BBC said, citing the Home Office.

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

Organizers were under increasing pressure from sponsors and politicians to cancel performances by the rapper, who has drawn widespread condemnation for making anti-Semitic comments and expressing admiration for Adolf Hitler.

Last year he released a song called Hail Hitler and advertised a swastika T-shirt for sale on its website.

The 48-year-old apologized in January with a letter, published as a full-page advertisement in The Wall Street Journal.

He said his bipolar disorder led him to “a four-month manic episode of psychotic, paranoid and impulsive behavior that destroyed my life.”

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

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

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

Phil Rosenberg, chairman of the Board of Deputies of British Jews, said the group would be willing to meet the musician if he withdrew from the festival.

“The Jewish community will want to see genuine repentance and change before it believes that the appropriate place to test this sincerity is the main stage of the Wireless Festival,” Rosenberg said.

Organizer Festival Republic stood next to Ye. In a statement issued Monday, director Melvin Benn urged people to offer the artist “forgiveness and hope.”

“We are not giving him a platform to glorify opinions of any kind, only to perform the songs that are currently playing on our country’s radio stations and our country’s streaming platforms that millions of people are listening to and enjoying,” the statement said.

British Health Minister Wes Streeting dismissed the organizers’ statement as “absurd” and said Ye “absolutely should not” perform at Wireless.

A representative for Ye did not respond to a request for comment.

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