Kanye West: Ye barred from Australia over anti-Semitism after song release

Kanye West has officially been banned from Australia after the recent release of an anti-Semitic song, Home Affairs Minister Tony Burke has revealed.

The American rapper, who has now legally changed his name to Ye and is married to Australian designer Bianca Censori, had a tourist visa used to visit family here, but officials cancelled it after he released a song called Heil Hitler in May.

“He’s been coming to Australia for a long time… and he’s made a lot of offensive comments,” Mr Burke said.

“But my officials looked at it again once he released the Heil Hitler song, and he no longer has a valid visa in Australia.”

West’s song, initially released on social media platform X, was banned from YouTube and Spotify.

Mr Burke said Australia’s immigration law “draws a stricter line” depending on the purpose of the visa.

He said the West case was the only occasion he could think of where someone’s visa had been cancelled over anti-Semitism when the visa class wasn’t for public advocacy, such as a lecture tour.

“We have a problem in Australia with anti-Semitism. We have a problem in Australia with Islamophobia. We have a problem with a range of forms of bigotry,” he said.

“I think that what’s not sustainable is to import hatred. Some people say, ‘Oh, don’t you believe in freedom of speech’ and for Australian citizens, yeah, you’ve got full freedom of speech – but we have enough problems in this country already without deliberately importing bigotry.”

The Government contemplated barring the rapper in 2023 over anti-Semitic comments.

Cabinet minister Jason Clare said at the time that people who had made similar comments had had visas denied and he expected West would face the same scrutiny.

Then-opposition leader Peter Dutton said at the time his “inclination would be not to allow him in”.