Pressure mounts on UK government to ban Kanye West after festival backlash

The British government was under growing pressure on Monday to bar American rapper Kanye West from entering the country after he was named as the headline act for the Wireless Festival of rap and hip-hop music set for July.

West, now known as Ye, has been criticised in the past for antisemitic remarks and celebration of Nazism, which have led on several occasions to his ‌social media accounts, including on X, being barred.

Asked for comment, a Home Office source said ministers were reviewing his permission to enter the country.

The Home Office does not usually comment on individual cases, but Mahmood has powers to personally request Ye be excluded from the UK. In January, the department revoked the Electronic Travel Authorisation of Eva Vlaardingerbroek, a Dutch far-right activist, for spreading false information.

Melvin Benn, managing ⁠director at Festival Republic, one of the organisers, defended the decision to have Ye headline the event despite his “abhorrent” comments, urging the public to offer him forgiveness.

Benn said ‌Ye would not be given “a platform to extol opinion” while on stage. He said Ye’s music was played on commercial radio stations in the country and available via live-streams and downloads “without comment or vitriol from anyone”, adding that he had a “legal right to come ‌into the country and perform”.