Rapper Ye has been retroactively banned from entering the U.K. for what was supposed to be a three-day gig headlining London’s Wireless Festival — prompting cancellation of the entire event, from which big-name sponsors had already started dropping out.
The Grammy winner born Kanye West, 48, applied Monday for an Electronic Travel Authorization visa, which the Home Office told the BBC it promptly denied, as “his presence would not be conducive to the public good,” per the outlet.
Festival Republic, which is behind the rap and hip-hop festival previously set for July 10 through 12 in Finsbury Park, said in a release sent to media outlets that West’s visa had been “withdrawn,” therefore “denying him entry into the United Kingdom.”
“As a result, Wireless Festival is cancelled and refunds will be issued to all ticket holders,” said the festival. “As with every Wireless Festival, multiple stakeholders were consulted in advance of booking YE and no concerns were highlighted at the time.”
Ye’s career has taken a backseat in recent years amid an onslaught of repeated antisemitic and racist rants and stunts. In February 2025, he promoted a link selling swastika T-shirts, followed shortly thereafter by a particularly notorious tirade, which even invoked a homophobic slur and promoted “racist stereotypes.”
He has also been sued by former employees, who are Jewish, for alleged harassment and praise of Adolf Hitler, something he’s done multiple times in public since since at least late 2022.
CNN reported that year that Ye had even wanted to name his 2018 album after the Nazi leader and in May 2025, West released the largely banned song “Heil Hitler.”
In January of this year, Ye took out an ad in the Wall Street Journal to apologize for such actions and sentiments, which he denied was a bid for fans’ good graces ahead of his new album, “Bully.”
On Monday, annual Wireless partner PayPal was reported to have dropped out of this year’s festival, along with Pepsi and others.
Early Tuesday, Wireless doubled down on supporting Ye by notifying media outlets that he’d updated the WSJ letter to address the festival “directly.”
Ye wrote that he hoped “to come to London and present a show of change, bringing unity, peace, and love through my music” and “would be grateful … to meet with members of the Jewish community in the U.K. in person, to listen.”
He acknowledged, “Words aren’t enough — I’ll have to show change through my actions. If you’re open, I’m here.”
Festival Republic managing director Melvin Benn told BBC Radio 4 that though he found the antics “disgusting,” the believes “people are forgetting” about Ye’s reported struggle with mental health and bipolar disorder.
The Board of Deputies of British Jews argued that, in addition to the recent release of “Heil Hitler,” Ye has “also made a number of deeply offensive comments about the Black community, saying that the 400-year experience of slavery was ‘like a choice.’”
Though they’re “willing to meet” Ye “as part of his journey of healing,” the Board said it would do so “only after he agrees not to play the Wireless Festival this year.”
While announcing the cancellation of the fest, Wireless decried any form of antisemitism as “abhorrent” and reiterated Ye’s “hopes to be given the opportunity to begin a conversation with the Jewish community in the U.K.”
