A senior federal government minister has cast doubt on whether the US rapper formerly known as Kanye West will be let into Australia, due to his praise for Adolf Hitler and verbal attacks towards Jewish people, as he reportedly considers meeting his new partner’s Australian family.
Despite there being no evidence yet that musician and designer Ye actually plans to travel to Australia, Education Minister Jason Clare told Nine’s Today show on Wednesday those with similar views to the celebrity – who told right-wing conspiracy theorist Alex Jones last year he likes Hitler and loves Nazis – had been rejected when they applied for visas in the past.
“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. People like that who’ve applied for visas to get into Australia in the past have been rejected,” Clare said.
“I expect that if he does apply, he would have to go through the same process and answer the same questions that they did.”
“Awful is probably an understatement” is how Clare described Ye’s statements in recent months, which cost the critically acclaimed artist millions of dollars in business deals.
Opposition Leader Peter Dutton joined some Jewish community leaders in calling for Ye to be denied entry on Tuesday, if he tries to visit the family of Melbourne-raised Bianca Censori, who he reportedly “married” earlier this month.
Read the article by Lachlan Abbott in WA Today.