Rachael Maskell said Shabana Mahmood should step in and ban the rapper from stepping on UK soil, as fury over his Wireless Festival booking intensifies.
Kanye West should be banned from the UK, Labour MPs have said (Image: Getty)
Kanye West should be barred from entering the UK because of his previous antisemitic tirades, a Labour MP has declared.
Rachael Maskell said Shabana Mahmood should step in and ban the rapper from stepping on UK soil, as fury over his Wireless Festival booking intensifies.
West, legally known as Ye, is due to headline Wireless Festival in Finsbury Park, north London, from July 10 to 12 – his first UK performances in 11 years.
But the booking has sparked uproar, with the American musician previously posting antisemitic messages on social media, a Super Bowl advert directing people to a swastika t-shirt and a song referencing Adolf Hitler.
Mr West’s appearance has prompted Pepsi and Diageo to withdraw their sponsorship of the festival. Pepsi had been promoting the event under the branding “Pepsi presents Wireless”.
Rachael Maskell, MP for York Central, told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme: “We cannot allow these performers to have a platform, and that’s why it’s absolutely right that the Prime Minister has said that that festival, the Wireless festival, should cancel that performer.
“But also, he should not be allowed to come to our country to perform in the light of the antisemitic comments that he has made and recorded.”
Asked whether the Home Secretary should step in to refuse the rapper a visa should he apply for one, Ms Maskell said: “I think it is clear, whether it’s in our cultural life or across society, that we should have zero tolerance for any form of antisemitism and therefore it is absolutely right that the Home Secretary takes the right considerations should an application be lodged.”
She added: “The Home Secretary should take appropriate steps should that occurrence happen.”
In a post on X, the Campaign Against Antisemitism (CAA) said: “The Prime Minister is right to be deeply concerned that Wireless Festival wants to headline someone whose anti-Jewish bigotry has gone as far as recording a track titled ‘Heil Hitler’ less than a year ago.
“But the Prime Minister is not a bystander.
“The Government can ban anyone from entering the UK who is not a citizen and whose presence would ‘not be conducive to the public good’.
“Surely this is a clear case.”
Luke Akehurst, the Labour MP for North Durham, told The Telegraph: “It’s certainly an option we should be looking at given he’s gone from being one of the world’s most impressive artists to releasing a song called ‘Heil Hitler’.”
In January, West took out a full-page advert in the Wall Street Journal to apologise, titled: “To Those I’ve Hurt.”
“I am not a Nazi or an antisemite,” it said. “I love Jewish people.”
West attributed his previous outbursts to his bipolar-1 disorder, writing: “In early 2025, I fell into a four-month-long manic episode of psychotic, paranoid and impulsive behaviour that destroyed my life.
“I lost touch with reality. Things got worse the longer I ignored the problem. I said and did things I deeply regret.”
The 48-year-old rapper’s scheduled appearance comes amid fears of growing antisemitism in the UK.
In March, four ambulances from a Jewish community-run service were set on fire in north-west London.
Two men and a 17-year-old boy were remanded in custody on Saturday after appearing in court accused of torching the vehicles.
In October last year, two men were killed in an attack on a Manchester synagogue.
Jewish community organisations have criticised the festival, with Phil Rosenberg, president of the Board of Deputies of British Jews calling it the “wrong decision” and called on the Government to consider barring him from entering the country.