A senior Australian government minister said on Wednesday that rapper Ye, formerly known as Kanye West, could be denied a visa over antisemitic comments if he tries to visit Australia.
Education Minister Jason Clare has responded to media reports that the US celebrity is set to visit the family of his new Australian partner Bianca Censori in Melbourne next week.
Clare said she did not know Ye had applied for a visa but Australia had previously refused him to someone with antisemitic views.
“I expect that if they apply, they will have to go through the same process and answer the same questions” as others who have made the appearance, Clare told Nine Network television.
Last month, Ye praised Hitler in an interview with conspiracy theorist Alex Jones. Twitter then suspended Ye after he tweeted a picture of a swastika combined with the Star of David.
Australia’s Migration Act sets security and character requirements for non-citizens to enter the country. Any decision on whether Ye gets an Australian visa will be made by Immigration Minister Andrew Giles, whose office says it cannot comment on individual cases for privacy reasons.
Peter Wertheim, executive chairman of the Executive Council of Australian Jewry, met government officials on Tuesday to protest the entry ban.
“We had a sympathetic hearing,” Wertheim told Sky News. “We have made the case that the individual does not meet the character test and it would be in the national interest not to grant a visa and we set out the reasons in detail.”
Opposition Leader Peter Dutton said if he were in government he would ban Ye on character grounds.
“My inclination is not to let him in,” Dutton told Radio 3AW in Melbourne on Tuesday.
“His antisemitic comments are reprehensible, his actions and behavior are appalling, and he is not a person of good character,” Dutton added.
Ye and Censori plan to visit their family who live in the suburb of Ivanhoe in Melbourne’s northeast next week, Seven Network News reported.
Ye and Censori got married less than two months after he finalized his divorce from Kim Kardashian, entertainment news site TMZ reported two weeks ago.
The AP asked Ye’s representative if she was married to Censori and planned to visit Melbourne, but did not immediately get a response.
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