Australian Home Affairs Minister Tony Burke confirmed on Wednesday that the US artist Kanye West has had his Australian visa canceled after releasing a song that promotes Nazism.
The rapper’s track “Heil Hitler,” which praises Nazi leader Adolf Hitler, was released across social media and music streaming platforms in May.
What has Australia said about barring entry to Kanye West?
The ban follows a West made on X, where he stated “I love Hitler” and “I’m a Nazi.”
Home Affairs Minister Tony Burke said that although West’s earlier comments , officials reassessed the situation after the song’s release.
“He’s made a lot of offensive comments, but my officials looked at it again once he released the Heil Hitler song — and he no longer has a valid visa in Australia.”
Burke said West, who married his Australian architect wife Bianca Censori in December 2022 has family in Australia and had long been a regular visitor before his visa was cancelled.
“It wasn’t a visa even for the purpose of the concerts,” said Burke. “It was a lower level, and the officials still looked at the law and said, ‘You’re going to have a song and promote that sort of Nazism, we don’t need that in Australia’.”
What’s the legal basis?
Australia’s Migration Act sets security and character requirements for non-citizens entering the country.
Burke rebuffed criticism that the withdrawal of the vis could be seen as an affront to free speech.
“For Australian citizens, yeah, you’ve got full freedom of speech. But we have enough problems in this country already without deliberately importing bigotry.”
Sydney and Melbourne, the country’s largest cities, have seen a spate of antisemitic attacks since the war between Israel and Hamas began on October 7, 2023.
How the song has caused a stir
after it was announced the rapper would perform there in July.
More than 3,000 people signed a petition demanding that West’s planned concert in the Slovak capital, Bratislava, be cancelled.
It called his performance “an insult to historic memory” and “a glorification of wartime violence.”
The petition, organised by two local groups, accused West — a vocal — of “repeatedly and openly adhering to symbols and ideology connected with the darkest period of modern global history.”
In the “Heil Hitler” music video, dozens of Black men dressed in animal pelts and masks chant the song’s title while standing in a block formation. At the same time, West raps about being misunderstood and his custody battle with ex-wife Kim Kardashian.
The song, released on May 8 to coincide with the 80th anniversary of the defeat of Nazi Germany in World War II, ends with an excerpt from a speech by Hitler.
Edited by Jenipher Camino Gonzalez
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