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The US rapper and artist Kanye West has been barred from travelling to Australia after the release of his widely condemned song Heil Hitler, which has been banned on Apple Music, Spotify and YouTube.
The home affairs minister, Tony Burke, disclosed on Wednesday that the government had revoked the rapper’s visa after his song referencing the Nazi leader Adolf Hitler was released independently in May.
Burke inadvertently revealed the news about West – who has legally changed his name to Ye – during an interview with the ABC’s Afternoon Briefing program when the minister was asked about the visa cancellation of an Israeli-American tech advocate who wrote “Islamophobia is rational”.
Burke said he would not let anyone who tried to argue that either Islamophobia or antisemitism was “rational” enter Australia to go on a speaking tour, given the purpose of the visa in question was to “give public speeches”.
“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 Ye, whose wife, Bianca Censori, is from Melbourne, had been coming to Australia “for a long time” and had family here.
But Burke alleged Ye 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”.
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Asked if it was “sustainable” to keep the ban in place given the possibility for international concerts, Burke replied: “I think that what’s not sustainable is to import hatred.
“Every visa application gets reassessed by my officials each time,” Burke continued. “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 cancelled that following the announcement of that song.”
A spokesperson for the home affairs department said it did not comment on individual cases, but all non-citizens who wanted to travel to Australia must satisfy the “character” requirements under 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,” they said.
Guardian Australia attempted to contact Ye for comment through his fashion label, Yeezy.
