The Australian government has canceled the visa of American rapper Kanye West, also known as Ye, following the release of a song titled “Heil Hitler”, which promotes Nazi ideology, the country’s Home Affairs Minister announced on Tuesday.
The song, released in May, came months after a series of antisemitic statements by West on social media, including remarks such as “I love Hitler” and “I’m a Nazi,” posted on platform X.
Home Affairs Minister Tony Burke told newsmen that although West’s previous comments had not initially affected his visa status, the release of the new song prompted a fresh review.
“It was a lower-level visa 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,’” Burke said.
“We have enough problems in this country already without deliberately importing bigotry,” he added.
West, who is married to Australian architect Bianca Censori, has longstanding ties to Australia and was a regular visitor before the visa revocation. However, Burke’s office declined to confirm the exact date the visa was canceled.
The decision follows a string of recent entry bans by Australia, including those imposed last month on pro-Israel influencer Hillel Fuld and in October on U.S. conservative commentator Candace Owens.
