The Home Office is considering whether Kanye West should be able to enter the UK after his previous antisemitic comments, Wes Streeting has said.
It comes as Ye, the rapper formerly known as Kanye West, has offered to meet with the British Jewish community ahead of his show at London’s Wireless Festival.
Mr Streeting told GB News: “The decision about whether he can enter Britain is one for the Home Office and that case is being considered. It would be inappropriate for me to comment.”
If the Home Office takes action, it would follow a similar decision by the Australian government last year. Canberra banned him after he released a song called “Heil Hitler” and put the slogan on T-shirts.
The Health Secretary later criticised the decision to have him headline the festival, and told Sky News the organisers should be “ashamed of themselves”.
In an addition to his apology for previous antisemitic comments issued in the Wall Street Journal in January, Ye said: “I’ve been following the conversation around Wireless and want to address it directly.
“My only goal is to come to London and present a show of change, bringing unity, peace, and love through my music.
“I would be grateful for the opportunity to meet with members of the Jewish community in the UK in person, to listen. I know words aren’t enough – I’ll have to show change through my actions. If you’re open, I’m here.”
Members of the government including Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer have raised concerns about the rapper’s performance at the festival, while Melvin Benn, managing director at Festival Republic, which promotes Wireless Festival, has defended the decision to put Ye on the bill.
Presale tickets for Wireless Festival are released at 12pm on Tuesday, and the general sale opens at 12pm on Wednesday.
Melvin Benn, managing director at Festival Republic, which promotes Wireless Festival, described himself as a “deeply committed anti-fascist” and “person of forgiveness”.
In a statement, Mr Benn added: “What Ye has said in the past about Jews and Hitler is as abhorrent to me as it is to the Jewish community, the Prime Minister and others that have commented and – taking him at his word – to Ye now also.
“Ye’s music is played on commercial radio stations in this country. It is available via live streams and downloads in this country without comment or vitriol from anyone and he has a legal right to come into the country and to perform in this country.
“He is intended to come in and perform. We are not giving him a platform to extol opinion of whatever nature, only to perform the songs that are currently played on the radio stations in our country and the streaming platforms in our country and listened to and enjoyed by millions.”
The president of the Board of Deputies of British Jews said it was “time for Wireless to do the decent thing and rescind an invitation they never should have offered”.
Pepsi and Diageo withdrew their sponsorship of the festival after West was announced as the headline act, and no brands appeared as visible sponsors on Wireless Festival’s official website on Monday evening.
An AB InBev spokesperson said, in regard to Budweiser and Beatbox: “We have decided to withdraw our sponsorship of this year’s Wireless Festival.”
Additionally PayPal, which is a payment partner for the annual rap and hip-hop festival, will not appear in any of its future promotional materials, the Press Association understands.
West, who has not performed in the UK since he headlined Glastonbury in 2015, has drawn widespread criticism in recent years after he began voicing admiration for Adolf Hitler, and has made a series of antisemitic remarks.
Last year he released a song called Heil Hitler, a few months after advertising a swastika T-shirt for sale on his website.
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