Australia has canceled the visa of rapper Ye, formerly known as Kanye West, for the release of his song “Heil Hitler.â€
Ye, 48, has been traveling to Australia regularly in recent years because his wife, Bianca Censori, was born in the country, and her family lives in Melbourne.
“He’s been coming to Australia for a long time. He’s got family here,†Australian home affairs minister Tony Burke told the Australian Broadcasting Corporation. “And he’s made a lot of offensive comments that my officials looked at again once he released the ‘Heil Hitler’ song, and he no longer has a valid visa in Australia.â€
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Ye did not immediately comment on his reported ban from Australia.
Australia has publicly considered banning the artist in the past. In 2023, after another string of antisemitic comments from Ye, Australian officials publicly suggested he could be denied a visa under the country’s immigration laws.
However, they did not take any action until this year, following the May release of “Heil Hitler.†In the song, West chants in part: “All my n—s Nazis, n—a, heil Hitler.†The song also includes a recording of a Hitler speech from 1935.
The song was removed from many streaming platforms shortly after West released it in May. However, his original social media post was watched more than 6 million times.
“We have enough problems in this country already without deliberately importing bigotry,†Burke told the ABC.
