Kanye West blocked from travelling to UK, government tells BBC

The UK government has blocked Kanye West's permission to travel to the UK, following controversy over his planned headline set at this summer's Wireless Festival in London.

The Home Office told the BBC the rapper made an application to travel to the UK yesterday via an Electronic Travel Authorisation (ETA).

It said the decision to refuse permission was made on the grounds that his presence would not be conducive to the public good.

For the last several years, West has caused outrage for a string of antisemitic, racist and pro-Nazi comments.

Wireless Festival has not yet publicly responded to the decision. BBC News has asked its representatives for comment.

A spokesperson for Campaign Against Antisemitism said: "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.

It added: "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."

West said earlier on Tuesday he "would be grateful" to meet members of the Jewish community in the UK after controversy over his booking.

In a statement, the rapper, now known as Ye, said he had been "following the conversation around Wireless", and offered to meet representatives of the community in person "to listen".

"I know words aren't enough," added the star, who has a history of making antisemitic comments. "I'll have to show change through my actions. If you're open, I'm here."

In a statement, the Board of Deputies of British Jews had said it was "willing" to meet the rapper, on the condition that he pulls out of his planned performances at Wireless.

"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," said the Board's president, Phil Rosenberg.

That decision has now been taken out of West's hands, and those of Festival Republic, the company behind Wireless, as well as other major UK festivals including Reading and Leeds.

Its managing director, Melvin Benn, had hinted that West's appearance may be in jeopardy when speaking to BBC Radio 4 on Tuesday morning.

"It may be that the Home Secretary does rescind his visa... if she does, the issue is over," he told the Today programme.

Benn, who is a major UK music industry figure and event promoter, agreed that West's past behaviour was "abhorrent" and "disgusting".

But the promoter highlighted the role that the star's mental health may have played, and asked for understanding.

"Mental health is not something that disappears overnight," Benn said.

"People suffer psychotic behaviour, suffer bipolar behaviour, for many, many years... And I think people are forgetting that."

But Jewish groups criticised Benn's support for the star.

The Board of Deputies of British Jews said that the Wireless boss's stance would "not reassure many within the Jewish or other communities".

In a statement, the board added: "It has been less than a year since Kanye West released a song entitled Heil Hitler, the culmination of three years of appalling antisemitism.

"He also made a number of deeply offensive comments about the black community, saying that the 400-year experience of slavery was 'like a choice'."

"We are willing to meet Kanye West as part of his journey of healing, but only after he agrees not to play the Wireless Festival this year."

Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer previously criticised West's booking, commenting over the weekend: "Antisemitism in any form is abhorrent and must be confronted firmly wherever it appears.

Health Secretary Wes Streeting echoed those sentiments on Tuesday, calling West's apology "mealy-mouthed and self-serving", and accusing Wireless of offering the rapper a "fig leaf of credibility".

"If he wants forgiveness, it's not my forgiveness he needs," Streeting told Radio 4. "It's the forgiveness of the Jewish communities and I don't think he's done anything to earn it."

Shadow home secretary Chris Philp said West was "guilty of appalling antisemitic and pro-Nazi comments" and urged home secretary Shabana Mahmood to use her powers under the Immigration Act to refuse him a visa.

Liberal Democrat leader Ed Davey has also called for West to be banned from entering the UK, while Reform UK leader Nigel Farage said: "Personally I wouldn't buy a ticket."