The British government is actively assessing whether to prevent US rapper Kanye West, who now goes by the name Ye, from entering the United Kingdom, the BBC reported Monday.
The review comes after his scheduled performances at the Wireless Festival in London drew sharp criticism due to his previous antisemitic statements.
Several major brands have since withdrawn their sponsorship from the Wireless Festival. Critics are pressing the event's organizers to drop West from the lineup and are urging authorities to deny him a visa.
Ministers hold the authority to prohibit foreign nationals from entering the UK when their presence is deemed not "conducive to the public good".
It is understood that officials are now weighing West's entry permission. Prime Minister Keir Starmer previously described the possibility of the rapper headlining the festival as "deeply concerning".
Australia already cancelled West's visa last May following the release of his "Heil Hitler" song.
The Conservative Party called on the government to reject any visa application, stating that "allowing someone with his track record to headline a major public event sends entirely the wrong message".
Education Secretary Bridget Phillipson labelled the rapper's past comments "completely unacceptable and absolutely disgusting" and said he should not perform at the festival.
"There is no place for that kind of hatred, bigotry or antisemitism from him or from anyone else," she said, while declining to address the visa question directly.
Michael Weiger, chief executive of the Board of Deputies of British Jews, stated that the UK should refuse West entry.
"We think that would be a very appropriate step were the home secretary to find a way to not allow him into the country," he said.
Stephen Silverman of the Campaign Against Antisemitism described the booking as "astonishing".
"It's great that sponsors are now doing the right thing and withdrawing their support, but how it could have conceivably been considered the right thing to do to headline an artist who, less than a year ago, released a music video for a song called Heil Hitler?" he told BBC Radio 5Live.
West has faced repeated backlash in recent years for a series of antisemitic and pro-Nazi statements.
In 2022, the rapper threatened to go "death con 3 on the Jews" in an apparent antisemitic rant on X, which was then called Twitter. West followed this up by claiming that he can't be antisemitic "because black people are actually Jew."
Last year he bought a Super Bowl ad to promote T-shirts with swastikas on them, then released a song titled “Heil Hitler," which a group of far-right antisemitic influencers, including Nick Fuentes, recently played at a Miami nightclub in a viral incident.
He subsequently issued an apology, attributing his actions to episodes of manic behavior linked to his bipolar disorder.
West’s antisemitic comments caused a host of companies to cut ties with him, including Adidas, the Creative Artists Agency, Foot Locker and Apple Music.