Push To Stop Kanye West From Being Allowed Into Australia

January 25, 2023

Kanye West could be denied entry into Australia following recent anti-Semitic comments. Opposition leader Peter Dutton reckons Ye’s visa should be refused, after the rapper openly praised Adolf Hitler during a bonkers TV interview with US far-right conspiracy theorist, Alex Jones.

“I like Hitler,” Ye told Jones in the live chat. “I love Jewish people, but I also love Nazis.”

CBC News: Ye praises Hitler, Nazis in livestream interview

The rapper is apparently making moves to travel to Melbourne to meet the family of his new Australian partner, Bianca Censori. But that won’t be happening if Dutton has anything to do with it.

“His anti-Semitic comments are disgraceful, his conduct and his behaviour is appalling, and he’s not a person of good character,” Dutton told Melbourne radio station, 3AW.

“The minister has the ability to stop somebody coming into our country of bad character. So, the minister’s got a lot to weigh up, but I must say my instinct would be if I was that decision-maker, I think there are better people we could welcome in.”

Education minister Jason Clare has also voiced his displeasure at the prospect of West coming to town, saying “awful would be an understatement” to describe the rapper’s comments. “I don’t know if he’s applied for a visa yet — but Google it, you will see that he seems like he’s a pretty big fan of a person who killed 6 million Jewish people last century,” Clare told Nine.

“People like that who’ve applied for visas to get into Australia in the past have been rejected. I expect that if he does apply, he would have to go through the same process and answer the same questions that they did.”

Meanwhile, as the ABC reports, prominent members of the Aussie Jewish community have written to the Albanese Government, demanding that Ye be barred from entering the country.

“He has become a lightning rod for extremists, for anti-Semites, for Neo-Nazis as well, and he inspires a lot of young people – he has a massive following,” Australian Jewish Association president, David Adler, told the broadcaster.

“He has a very strong record vilifying a segment of the community, namely, the Jewish community, he uses terms like going ‘DEFCON 3’ on the Jewish people. He’s used all sorts of anti-Semitic tropes — so yes, we think that’s a significant risk, and because of him being such a prominent and inspirational figure to youth, we think it is a risk in Australian society.”

A federal government spokeswoman has told the Sydney Morning Herald that Immigration Minister Andrew Giles couldn’t comment on individual visa cases, and could neither confirm nor deny if Ye had lodged an application.

“All non-citizens must meet, and continue to meet, requirements set out in the Migration Act, including security and character requirements,” the spokeswoman said.