The Home Office is considering blocking the controversial rapper from entering Britain.
LONDON — U.K. Health Secretary Wes Streeting on Tuesday condemned plans for Kanye West to headline a London music festival following his numerous anti-Semitic comments.
Wireless Festival, which is due to take place this July in the U.K. capital, has invited the controversial rapper, now known as Ye, to be its star performer on three consecutive nights, even though he previously sold t-shirts with the Nazi swastika and released a track called “Heil Hitler.”
U.K. Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood is considering blocking West from entering Britain, POLITICO’s London Playbook newsletter reported Tuesday.
Streeting said West has “no business” headlining the festival, and that the organizers “should be ashamed of themselves” for a terrible error of judgment.
“These weren’t a couple of off-color remarks,” Streeting told Sky News. “These were, I think, a pattern of behavior.”
He added: “Antisemitism is serious, it can be deadly and people like Kanye West, who have an enormous platform, fame, reach, they have to accept the responsibility that comes with that. And I don’t think he has. I’m only too disappointed the festival organizers are too blind to see it.”
Festival Managing Director Melvin Benn called West’s comments “abhorrent,” but said his songs were played on radio stations and he, for now, has a legal right to enter the U.K. and perform.
Benn said people should “offer some forgiveness and hope to him as I have decided to do.”
In a recent statement, West said he wanted the opportunity to meet with and listen to members of the Jewish community in the U.K.
“My only goal is to come to London and present a show of change, bringing unity, peace, and love through my music,” West said. “I know words aren’t enough — I’ll have to show change through my actions. If you’re open, I’m here.”
Streeting said West is wrong to blame a diagnosis of bipolar disorder for his actions.
“Does bipolar disorder really justify that? Or is that an excuse to justify rotten behavior?” the health secretary told Times Radio in a separate interview.
Prime Minister Keir Starmer told The Sun on Sunday newspaper it was “deeply concerning” that West was booked to perform despite previous anti-semitic remarks.