Australia has canceled Yeโs visa after the rapperโs antisemitic rhetoric was cemented with a song titled โHeil Hitler.โ According to the Associated Pressthe Grammy winner, formerly known as Kanye Westhas visited Australia multiple times over the past several years with his wife, Bianca censoriwho is from the continent.
โHeil Hitlerโ was released by the 48-year-old in May, along with a music video which featured a group of Black men standing in a military formation chanting โNi**a heil Hitler! The clip also included a snippet of a speech fromย Nazi leader Adolf Hitler.
โHeโs been coming to Australia for a long time. Heโs got family here. And heโs made a lot of offensive comments that my officials looked at again once he released the โHeil Hitlerโ song, and he no longer has a valid visa in Australia,โ explained Home Affairs Minister Tony, per AP. โWe have enough problems in this country already without deliberately importing bigotry.โ
Kanye West and Bianca Censori attend the 67th Annual GRAMMY Awards on February 02, 2025 in Los Angeles, California.
Matt Winkelmeyer/Getty Images for The Recording Academy
The Guardian reported the song has been banned on Apple Music, Spotify, and YouTube. As noted by the outlet, Burke expanded on the decision to revoke Yeโs visa while ABCโs Afternoon Briefing about the same consequence for an Israeli-American tech advocate who wrote โIslamophobia is rationalโ.
โMost of the visas that have been cancelled under this section have been where someone was seeking to make a public speech,โ Burke detailed. โThe only one I can think of where it wasnโt for public advocacy โ the visa โ but we cancelled it anyway, would be Kanye West.โ
Burke continued to explain that the โRunawayโ performerโs pattern of antisemitic behavior was not ignored, adding that he โmade a lot of offensive comments that my officials looked at again once he released the โHeil Hitlerโ song, and he no longer has a valid visa in Australia.โ
Kanye West attends the 67th GRAMMY Awards on February 02, 2025 in Los Angeles, California.
Frazer Harrison/Getty Images
โEvery visa application gets reassessed by my officials each time,โ Burke explained. โIโm not taking away the way the act operates, but even for the lowest level of visa, when my officials looked at it, they cancelled that following the announcement of that song.โ
In May, shortly after the โHeil Hitlerโ release, Ye claimed to be โdone with antisemitism.โ
โI love all people,โ He proclaimed. โGod forgive me for the pain Iโve caused.โ
