The Wireless music festival has been cancelled after rapper Kanye West, legally known as Ye, was banned from entering the United Kingdom amid a deepening political row over his past antisemitic statements.
West made an application to travel to the UK via an Electronic Travel Authorisation on Monday, but it was blocked by Home Office officials. The application was initially granted online but was rescinded after review on the grounds that his presence in the UK would not be conducive to the public good.
A spokesperson for the festival confirmed it would no longer go ahead in July and said refunds would be issued to those who had already bought tickets.
“The Home Office has withdrawn Ye’s ETA, denying him entry into the United Kingdom. As a result, Wireless festival is cancelled and refunds will be issued to all ticket holders,” the statement read.
“As with every Wireless festival, multiple stakeholders were consulted in advance of booking Ye and no concerns were highlighted at the time. Antisemitism in all its forms is abhorrent, and we recognise the real and personal impact these issues have had.”
The rapper has been criticised for making antisemitic remarks, including voicing admiration for Adolf Hitler. Last year, he released a song called “Heil Hitler,” months after advertising a swastika T-shirt for sale on his website.
Ye took out a full-page advert in the Wall Street Journal in January apologising for his antisemitic behaviour and attributing his inflammatory actions to his bipolar disorder. In a statement on Tuesday, he offered to “meet and listen” to members of the UK’s Jewish community.
Over the weekend, Prime Minister Keir Starmer joined criticism of the festival, saying it was “deeply concerning” that Ye had been booked to perform “despite his previous antisemitic remarks and celebration of nazism.”
Speaking before the ban was publicised, Phil Rosenberg, president of the Board of Deputies of British Jews, said the group would be willing to meet Ye if he pulled out of Wireless.
“It has been less than a year since Kanye West released a song entitled ‘Heil Hitler,’ the culmination of three years of appalling antisemitism,” Rosenberg said.
The ban left Wireless organisers with three months to fill three headline slots. On Monday evening, Melvin Benn, managing director of Festival Republic, which promotes Wireless, said Ye “intended to come in and perform,” adding that organisers were “not giving him a platform to extol opinion of whatever nature, only to perform the songs.”
West joins a list of American cultural figures who have been banned from entering the UK, including Snoop Dogg in 2007, Martha Stewart in 2008, and Tyler, the Creator in 2015.
