American rapper Kanye West, who was to headline a July music festival in London, has been banned from entering the United Kingdom because of his anti-Semitic comments in recent years, the British Home Office told the BBC on Tuesday.
Kanye West, 48, submitted an application for an Electronic Travel Authorization (ETA) on Monday to enter British territory, according to the BBC citing the ministry. This request was refused on the grounds that “his presence would not be in the general interest,” added the British media.
The London festival where Kanye West was to perform has been canceled, its organizers announced on Tuesday. “Following the Home Office’s decision to ban the entry” of Kanye West into the United Kingdom, the organizers “were forced to cancel the Wireless Festival,” they wrote on Instagram.
The rapper was headlining the festival and was scheduled to take the stage on all three nights of the event.
