Australian minister says Kanye West visa request may be denied
The rapper has offended Jews across the world after a series of antisemitic comments and social media posts
The musician formerly known as Kanye West may not be given an Australian visa after he made a series of recent antisemitic comments.
Ye, as he is now known, was reportedly due to fly to Australia to meet the family of his new wife, but Australia’s education minister Jason Clare said on Wednesday that “people like that who’ve applied for visas to get into Australia in the past have been rejected”.
The country has refused or revoked visas for politically controversial commentators after they failed the “good character” test, including conspiracy theorist David Icke and male chauvinist Gavin McInnes.
Speaking to Nine News about the rapper’s planned visit, Clare said: “I expect that if he does apply, he would have to go through the same process and answer the same questions that they did.”
Peter Wertheim of the Executive Council of Australian Jewry said government officials were “sympathetic” to arguments for a visa ban. “We made the case that this particular individual does not meet the character test and that it would be in the national interest not to grant him a visa,” he said.
In recent months, the singer’s comments have played on antisemitic tropes about Jewish money and control. More recently, he appeared to praise Hitler, before posting an image of a swastika, for which his Twitter account was re-suspended.
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