Kanye West has stirred up controversy on multiple occasions, most recently due to his social media tirades. In recent years, the 48-year-old rapper has particularly come under fire for making antisemitic comments. Those views have also seeped into his work, as West notably released a single called “Heil Hitler.” Since it was dropped, the song has garnered backlash and, now, a country’s government is taking action. West has been banned from traveling to Australia, and a blistering statement has been released about the decision.
Over the past few years, Ye has visited the Land Down Under on a number of occasions, due to the fact that it’s the birthplace of his wife, Bianca Censori. Members of the 30-year-old Yeezy architectural designer’s family actually still live in Melbourne, hence the couple’s visits. It was announced this week that the Grammy winner’s visa had been revoked due to “Heil Hitler.” Tony Burke, the Home Affairs Minister, spoke to Australian Broadcasting Corp (via the Associated Press), citing prejudice as the reason for this move:
He’s been coming to Australia for a long time. He’s got family here. And he’s made a lot of offensive comments that my officials looked at again once he released the ’Heil Hitler’ song and he no longer has a valid visa in Australia. We have enough problems in this country already without deliberately importing bigotry.
Ye might be banned from visiting the country. As of this writing, the “Jesus Walks” performer’s representatives have not commented on the matter.
The Guardian, a petition was even put together in order to bar the rapper from performing. The decision to have West join the event was collectively referred to as “an insult to historic memory, a glorification of wartime violence and debasement of all victims of the Nazi regime.”
Ye first came under fire for making antisemitic remarks in the fall of 2022 during a since-removed episode of the Drink Champs podcast. He later proceeded to share inflammatory posts, including one captured by NPR, in which he claimed he’d go “death con 3 on JEWISH PEOPLE.” Eventually, Ye lost a number of business partnerships, with Adidas most notably cutting ties with him. At the time, the hip hop mogul admitted to having been “beat to a pulp.”
Kanye West later attributed his anti-Jewish remarks to “demons” and, in 2023, he claimed that Jonah Hill’s 21 Jump Street changed his mind on people of the Jewish faith. That sentiment garnered a response from an antisemitism watch dog group. However, this past May, West took to social media to say that he was truly “done with antisemitism.”
Nevertheless, Ye’s “Heil Hitler” has still been released to the public, and there doesn’t seem to be any backtrack on that. Time will tell how Ye might respond to the news that he’s no longer allowed in Australia due to his controversial tune.