British Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer is facing growing pressure from Labour MPs to block controversial US rapper Kanye West from entering the United Kingdom for his scheduled performance at a London music festival, the Telegraph reports.
West, legally known as Ye, is due to headline the Wireless Festival in Finsbury Park, north London, from July 10 to 12. It would be his first UK performance in 11 years.
The booking has sparked outrage due to West’s history of anti-Semitic remarks and praise of Adolf Hitler. Last year, he released a song titled “Heil Hitler,” months after advertising a swastika T-shirt for sale on his website.
Sir Keir described the booking as “deeply concerning,” telling The Sun: “Anti-Semitism in any form is abhorrent and must be confronted clearly and firmly wherever it appears. Everyone has a responsibility to ensure Britain is a place where Jewish people feel safe and secure.”
Luke Akehurst, the Labour MP for North Durham, told The Telegraph: “It’s certainly an option we should be looking at given he’s gone from being one of the world’s most impressive artists to releasing a song called ‘Heil Hitler’.”
Another Labour MP, who is Jewish, said the potential to block West’s visa “should certainly be explored.”
The Government has the power to ban people from the UK who are “non-conducive to the public good,” with grounds for exclusion including “extremism” and “unacceptable behaviour.”
Lord Austin of Dudley, the UK’s trade envoy to Israel, said the prospect of the rapper being “cheered by thousands of kids” on a British stage was a “complete disgrace.”
Nimco Ali, the Government’s former adviser for tackling violence against women and girls, said, “If we are serious about protecting the British Jewish community not just in words but in action, then we must be clear. There is no place for this kind of hatred here.”
The backlash has already prompted Pepsi and Diageo to withdraw their sponsorship of the festival. Pepsi had been promoting the event under the branding “Pepsi presents Wireless.”
A spokesman for the Campaign Against Antisemitism said Sir Keir was “right to be deeply concerned” but insisted he was “not a bystander,” adding, “If management are adamant that they want to headline Kanye West, it is only the Government that can stop them.”
West apologised to the Jewish community in a full-page advert in The Wall Street Journal earlier this year, blaming his behaviour on a frontal lobe injury from a 2002 car crash. However, he later retracted his apology, writing on X, “I’m never apologising for my Jewish comments.”
Mayor of London Sir Sadiq Khan distanced himself from the booking, with a spokesman saying, “This was a decision taken by the festival organisers, and not one that City Hall is involved in.”
