There are reports that Kanye West is planning a trip to Australia with Bianca Censori — an Australian and a Yeezy employee, according to rumors, he “got married” in an unofficial ceremony earlier this month.
Several Australian media outlets have reported that West is going to visit the country to meet with the Censor family, who hails from Melbourne.
However, Dvir Abramovich, chairman of the Jewish-Australian NGO Anti-Defamation Commission, called for West to be banned from entering the country because of his stream of anti-Semitic statements during 2022.
According to a statement relayed to NME today (January 23), Abramovich and the Anti-Defamation Commission, founded by the founder of the Anti-Defamation League B’nai B’rith to combat anti-Semitism in Australia, are calling on Australian Immigration Minister Andrew Giles to use his powers to deny West entry to Australia.
In accordance with section 501 of the Australian Migration Act, a visa for a foreign traveler may be refused or it may be canceled due to the so-called “character check”. As a rule, visitors can be considered to have failed a reputation check if, among other possible criteria, your behavior in the past and present leads to the fact that the Immigration Minister considers you a “bad person”.
West’s anti-Semitic statements last year, according to the Anti-Defamation Commission, would mean the failure of the so-called character test. In particular, they point out that in October West tweeted that he would “commit a third scam against Jews.” This tweet led to the temporary blocking of West’s Twitter account.
The organization also refers to West’s October interview on Revolt TV’s Drink Champs channel, in which he made remarks about the “Jewish media,” saying that Jews “own a black voice” and “will take us and milk [until] we die.”
They also quoted West’s interview on InfoWars by Alex Jones last month in which he praised Adolf Hitler, said “I am a Nazi” and denied the Holocaust, falsely claiming it was “factually incorrect” that six million Jews were killed during the Holocaust.
After the interview, West tweeted an image of a swastika inside the Star of David, while his Twitter account was immediately blocked for violating Twitter’s rules against incitement to violence.
“Calls for violence and hatred must have consequences, and Australia should not spread a welcome mat and provide a platform to a hate—monger who spews threats against the Jewish community and spreads conspiracy myths about Jewish power, greed and control,” Abramovich said.
“Kanye is an outspoken anti—Semite without embellishment, a lover of Nazism and a fan of Hitler, who openly admires the evil tyrant responsible for the extermination of six million Jews, including 1.5 million children,” he continued. “This kind of rhetoric is dangerous and has real consequences, given the more than 30 million followers of this man who can start to believe that he is demonizing the Jewish community and that they should act.
“Kanye’s admission to Australia will also send the wrong message about our nation and violate our core values of tolerance, diversity and respect. At a time of rising anti-Semitism in Australia and increasing vilification, its presence in the country, disgusting anti-Jewish propaganda and incitement, as well as disgusting rhetoric pose a significant risk to the Jewish community.”
West’s anti-Semitic remarks provoked a strong negative reaction last year and led to professional consequences, such as the termination by Adidas of Yeezy’s long-standing partnership with the rapper, calling his actions “unacceptable, hateful and dangerous.” Balenciaga severed relations with West, his Yeezy products were removed from Gap stores where they were previously stored, athletes Jaylen Brown and Aaron Donald left their agency Donda Sports, and his Donda Academy closed.
West’s colleagues also condemned him after his remarks. Pusha T’s longtime co-creator called his comments “very disappointing,” and high-profile figures such as John Legend, Kim Kardashian’s ex-wife, Eric Andre, Howard Stern and Diddy spoke out about West’s comments.
