Kanye West has been banned from Australia after the release of his controversial song "Heil Hitler," which has faced widespread condemnation and has been removed from streaming platforms including Apple Music, Spotify, and YouTube.
On Wednesday, Home Affairs Minister Tony Burke revealed that the government revoked the rapper's visa after he independently released a song in May that referenced Nazi leader Adolf Hitler, according to The Guardian.
Burke disclosed this information during an interview on ABC's Afternoon Briefing when he was asked about the government's decision to cancel the visa of an Israeli-American tech advocate who had stated that "Islamophobia is rational."
Burke said that he would refuse entry to anyone claiming that either Islamophobia or antisemitism is "rational," especially if their visa's purpose was to deliver public speeches on a speaking tour.
"Most of the visas that have been cancelled under this section have been where someone was seeking to make a public speech," he said. "The only one I can think of where it wasn't for public advocacy – the visa – but we cancelled it anyway, would be Kanye West."
Burke said that West's wife, Bianca Censori, is from Melbourne and had been visiting family there "for a long time." However, he said that West had "made a lot of offensive comments that my officials looked at again once he released the Heil Hitler song and he no longer has a valid visa in Australia."
When questioned about whether maintaining the ban was feasible in light of potential international concerts, Burke responded, "What's truly unsustainable is bringing hatred into the country."
"I think that what's not sustainable is to import hatred," he said.
"Every visa application gets reassessed by my officials each time. I'm not taking away the way the act operates but even for the lowest level of visa, when my officials looked at it, they canceled that following the announcement of that song."
Asked for comment on the matter by The Guardian, a spokesperson for the Home Affairs Department stated that generally, no specific cases were singled out, but emphasized that all non-citizens wishing to enter Australia must meet the "character" criteria outlined in the Migration Act.
"The Australian government will continue to act decisively to protect the community from the risk of harm posed by individuals who choose to engage in criminal activity or behaviour of concern, including visa cancellation or refusal where appropriate," the spokesperson said.
Meanwhile, in June, West accused Shopify of witholding $4 million of his money.
The Yeezy online store, which was previously hosted by Shopify, was taken offline after the rapper, who declared he is "a Nazi," used a regional Super Bowl ad in February to promote a T-shirt featuring a swastika, according to CBS MoneyWatch.
In February, a Shopify spokesperson confirmed that Yeezy.com was removed for violating the platform's terms of service.
"All merchants are responsible for following the rules of our platform. This merchant did not engage in authentic commerce practices and violated our terms, so we removed them from Shopify," read a statement shared to CBS MoneyWatch.
Zoe Papadakis ✉
Zoe Papadakis is a Newsmax writer based in South Africa with two decades of experience specializing in media and entertainment. She has been in the news industry as a reporter, writer and editor for newspapers, magazine and websites.