Home Affairs Minister Tony Burke confirms controversial American rapper Kanye Wests' Australian visa cancelled
Speaking to ABC's Afternoon Briefing on Wednesday, Mr Burke has revealed the Department of Home Affairs has cancelled 48-year-old West's visa following the release of his song titled 'Heil Hitler'.
Mr Burke said though West has been a regular visiting Australia and had family in the country, the artist has made 'a lot of offensive comments'.
'My officials looked at it again once he released the 'Heil Hitler' song and he no longer has a valid visa in Australia,' Mr Burke told ABC.
The Minister confirmed that prior to the decision West did have a valid visa - which he outlined had not been for the purpose of performing concerts.
'It was at a lower level and officials still looked at the law and said 'you're going to have a song a promote that sort of Nazism, we don't need that in Australia',' he said.
Mr Burke was questioned as to whether he thought barring the rapper was a "sustainable" option, and the minister said he thought "what's not sustainable is to import hatred".
"We have enough problems in this country already without deliberately importing bigotry," he said.
The rapper does not have any upcoming performances scheduled in Australia.
West has been embroiled in a range of controversies in recent years, including in April this year when he dressed as a Ku Klux Klan (KKK) member during an interview.
He and his Australian wife Bianca Censori also came under fire in February when Censori appeared nude on the red carpet of the Grammy Awards.
The rapper has also posted a number of offensive posts on social media in recent years, and earlier this year began selling a swastika t-shirt on his website.
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