Kanye Could Be Barred From Meeting the In-Laws

Jewish groups want him denied entry to Australia over antisemitic comments
By Arden Dier,  Newser Staff
Posted Jan 25, 2023 5:59 AM CST
Kanye West Could Be Barred From Australia
Kanye West, known as Ye, watches the first half of an NBA basketball game between the Washington Wizards and the Los Angeles Lakers in Los Angeles, on March 11, 2022.   (AP Photo/Ashley Landis, File)

Kanye West is reportedly preparing to meet his new in-laws in Australia, though a cabinet minister says there's a good chance he could be barred from entering the country. "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 six million Jewish people last century," Education Minister Jason Clare told Channel Nine News, per ABC Australia, adding, "people like that who've applied for visas to get into Australia in the past have been rejected." Visitors to Australia "must be of good character" and pass a character test.

The Australian Jewish Association has written to Immigration Minister Andrew Giles to demand West, legally known as Ye, be blocked from entering the country. The Executive Council of Australian Jewry has also met with officials to request an entry ban, per CNN. West—who reportedly wed Melbourne native Bianca Censori in a non-binding ceremony earlier this month—praised Adolf Hitler in an interview with Alex Jones in December and later made anti-Semitic comments while speaking with Proud Boys founder Gavin McInnes. This was months after he was suspended from Instagram and Twitter for antisemitic posts.

"He's used all sorts of anti-Semitic tropes" and "has become a lightning rod for extremists, for anti-Semites, for Neo-Nazis," says AJA President David Adler, per ABC. "Because of him being such a prominent and inspirational figure to youth, we think it is a risk in Australian society." Though there's been no word yet from Giles, opposition leader Peter Dutton, who served as immigration minister under a previous government, said Tuesday that he wouldn't be likely to let West into Australia if he were in charge. "He's not a person of good character," Dutton said, per ABC. "His anti-Semitic comments are disgraceful, his conduct and his behaviour is appalling." (More Kanye West stories.)

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