Ye, formerly known as Kanye West, may not be allowed to visit Australia because of his history of anti-Semitic remarks, a government minister said on Wednesday.
According to Reuters.com, Minister for Education Jason Clare condemned Ye’s “awful” anti-Semitic comments involving Hitler and the Holocaust, saying others who had made similar statements had been denied visas.
“People like that who’ve applied for visas to get into Australia in the past have been rejected,” Clare said in an interview with
forwp-incontent-custom-banner ampforwp-incontent-ad1">Australian media reported that Ye would visit the country to meet the family of his partner, Bianca Censori, who grew up in Melbourne.
Australia’s Migration Act sets security and character requirements for non-citizens to enter the country. Any decision on whether Ye gets an Australian visa would be made by Immigration Minister Andrew Giles, whose office said he could not comment on individual cases due to privacy reasons.
Peter Wertheim, co-chief executive officer of the Executive Council of Australian Jewry, met government officials on Tuesday to argue for an entry ban.
“We had a sympathetic hearing,” Wertheim said on Sky News.
“We’ve made the case that this particular individual does not meet the character test and that it would be in the national interest not to grant him a visa and we set out our reasons in some detail.”
Opposition leader Peter Dutton said if he were in government, he would be inclined to bar Ye on character grounds.
“My inclination would be not to allow
him in,” Dutton told Melbourne’s Radio 3AW on Tuesday via Foxnews.com.“His antisemitic comments are disgraceful, his conduct and his behavior is appalling, and he’s not a person of good character,” Dutton added.
Ye rarely fails to make headlines. Recently, the Chicago native has been dropped by major corporate partners, including Adidas, and banned from Twitter because of anti-Semitic remarks and outbursts on social media against other celebrities.