The rapper formerly known as Kanye West has been banned from entering the UK amid a deepening political row over his previous antisemitic statements.
West, who is legally known as Ye, made an application to travel to the UK via an Electronic Travel Authorisation on Monday but it has been blocked by officials.
It is understood that the application was initially granted online but was rescinded after review, on the grounds that his presence in the UK would not be conducive to the public good.
The rapper had been booked to perform at the Wireless festival in London in July.
He has been criticised for making antisemitic remarks including voicing admiration for Adolf Hitler. Last year he released a song called Heil Hitler, a few months after advertising a swastika T-shirt for sale on his website.
Ye took out a full-page advert in the Wall Street Journal in January apologising for his antisemitic behaviour and attributing his inflammatory actions to his bipolar disorder. In a statement on Tuesday, he offered to “meet and listen” to members of the UK’s Jewish community.
Over the weekend, Keir Starmer, joined criticism of the festival, saying it was “deeply concerning” that Ye had been booked to perform “despite his previous antisemitic remarks and celebration of nazism”.
On Monday evening, Melvin Benn, the managing director of Festival Republic, which promotes Wireless, said Ye “intended to come in and perform”, adding that organisers were “not giving him a platform to extol opinion of whatever nature, only to perform the songs that are currently played on the radio stations in our country and the streaming platforms in our country and listened to and enjoyed by millions”.
Downing Street faced pressure on Tuesday afternoon to say whether Ye would be allowed to perform. Asked to clarify Ye’s visa status at lunchtime, the prime minister’s official spokesperson said: “We’ve been clear that his permission to enter the UK is under review as we speak. All available options remain on the table.”
He added: “Decisions are taken on a case-by-case basis in line with the law and the evidence available, but where individuals pose a threat to public safety or seek to spread extremism, the government has not hesitated to act, and that includes cancelling permission to enter this country for extremist preachers and far-right figures.”
Speaking before the ban was publicised, Phil Rosenberg, the president of the Board of Deputies of British Jews, said the group would be willing to meet Ye if he pulled out of Wireless.
“It has been less than a year since Kanye West released a song entitled Heil Hitler, the culmination of three years of appalling antisemitism. He also made a number of deeply offensive comments about the black community, saying that the 400-year experience of slavery was ‘like a choice’,” Rosenberg said.
“Even while claiming remorse today, his latest album includes a track first released last year with the abhorrent title Gas Chamber.”