Latest / The Fourcast / Wireless cancelled: was the government right to block Kanye West?
Transcript
- 0:00It's not only that. You've got Kanye West, a global
- 0:03successful artist, embracing this Nazi iconography and
- 0:07language. That iconography and far right
- 0:10and extremist language sells. We are in a global information
- 0:15environment where extremism sells.
- 0:18I have some breaking news. It's been cancelled.
- 0:21The festival's been cancelled. Are you surprised?
- 0:23Very. Hello and welcome to the
- 0:28Forecast. The government has blocked Kanye
- 0:31West's permission to travel to the UK.
- 0:33So was this the right decision? The American rapper, who's known
- 0:37as Yay, was due to headline London's Wireless Festival this
- 0:40summer. He has a long history of
- 0:41anti-Semitic comments and actions, including writing a
- 0:44song that glorified Adolf Hitler.
- 0:46Mr. West has blamed this on a traumatic brain injury and
- 0:49missed bipolar diagnosis. He's apologised, says he's
- 0:53reached out to the Jewish community here in the UK to
- 0:56discuss all of this. I'm joined by Doctor Toby Green
- 0:58from the Board of Deputies of British Jews and the music
- 1:02journalist Yemi Abiadi. I'm going to start with you,
- 1:06Doctor Green. Was this the right thing to do?
- 1:10Has the government done the right thing?
- 1:11I think they have done the right thing.
- 1:12It's unfortunate that it's it's come to this.
- 1:14It's unfortunate that the Government has had to step in
- 1:18when really it ought to have been clear to the organisers of
- 1:21the festival that this was not an appropriate invitation to
- 1:24have made in the 1st place. And having made that mistake
- 1:28once, it was clear how challenging and problematic that
- 1:31was from the perspective of the Jewish community and not only
- 1:33the Jewish community but many other people in this country.
- 1:35They should have drawn the right conclusions and and reversed
- 1:38that decision themselves. But unfortunately it's come to
- 1:41this where the government has has stepped in and and it so it
- 1:44seems and made that decision for them.
- 1:47Yammy, what's your view? Yeah, I'm of the opinion that
- 1:49Kanye West shouldn't have been booked for wireless in the 1st
- 1:52place. And I feel like the decision to
- 1:56ban him is kind of bittersweet in a sense, just because it kind
- 2:01of sets a worrying precedent, I'd say just as far as the
- 2:04government getting involved in was essentially an issue of
- 2:08entertainment. And I understand the nature of
- 2:10what he said and everything of what he said.
- 2:12And I definitely do not condone anything of what he said in the
- 2:15past. But I feel like it does set a
- 2:16very worrying precedent for, you know, when the government wants
- 2:19to interfere with affairs that might not necessarily concern
- 2:24them. So I almost welcome the decision
- 2:28in a sense, but I also feel it isn't, it isn't setting the best
- 2:31president moving forward, I'd say.
- 2:33OK, So look, we're going to come back to this issue of when a
- 2:37government should or shouldn't jump in, particularly when we
- 2:42look at other people who say really, really problematic and
- 2:47toxic things. But I just want to put a couple
- 2:51of things to to both of you. First, wireless obviously are
- 2:54not part of this discussion. They say that Kanye West or Yay
- 2:59has apologized, so he should be free to perform.
- 3:03That redemption is something that we should take seriously.
- 3:06Doctor Green, what do you think? Yeah, I think we kind of have to
- 3:08take a step back really and look at Kanye West's behaviour in his
- 3:12remarks over quite a period of time.
- 3:15I mean, this started in earnest really in 2022.
- 3:18We're not just talking about the occasional off hand or off
- 3:20colour remark, we're talking about a very clear and
- 3:23consistent pattern, a very serious anti-Semitic remarks
- 3:27given in interviews over a significant period of time, a
- 3:31pattern also of apologizing for those remarks and then returning
- 3:35to the same pattern again a couple of times.
- 3:38So you can understand from the perspective of the Jewish
- 3:40community, and I think for many others the fact that he's
- 3:42apologized again is not very reassuring.
- 3:45From our perspective, I think we'd want to see a very clear
- 3:50fixed pattern of having renounced those views and his
- 3:54claims to be a Nazi, which he made, and other actions that
- 3:58illustrate that, such as releasing song called Hal Hitler
- 4:02and many others. In a similar vein, we'd want to
- 4:04see a long pattern over a long period of time before we were
- 4:07reassured that that recounting or renouncing of those positions
- 4:12was was permanent. Kanye said he wants to meet you.
- 4:16Would you do that? So we've said that we'd be open
- 4:21from the perspective of the Board of Deputies to such a
- 4:23meeting, but only if and he has withdrawn his participation.
- 4:32I think that it's really important to separate the two
- 4:34things. So one is his participation in
- 4:36the Wireless Festival, which we think is is fundamentally wrong,
- 4:39not only because of his remarks, but also because of the threat
- 4:42that that poses to members of the Jewish community.
- 4:44If you bring somebody who has, you know, a hugely influential
- 4:48individual who's also gained a huge reputation for engaging in
- 4:51anti-Semitic language and promoting Nazi iconography and
- 4:54normalizing Nazi iconography and bringing such a person and
- 4:57putting them on a stage in front of 10s of thousands of people in
- 5:00a part of North London with some very large, very prominent
- 5:03Jewish communities, that poses A fundamental threat to British
- 5:06Jews. So that's that has to be
- 5:09unacceptable. And it's good that there now
- 5:11seems that that won't happen. We need to separate that from
- 5:13the question of Kanye West wrestling with his own position
- 5:17and his own identity and is attempting to, you know, get
- 5:21over his mental health issues. And, you know, if engaging with
- 5:24the Jewish community in this country may play a positive role
- 5:27in that, that's something we're open to.
- 5:28But let's not imagine that that's some kind of route to
- 5:31salvation. Kanye West has hurt a great many
- 5:34people all over the world, including in the including the
- 5:36United States. So I think it would only be one
- 5:39part of a much wider series of actions that you'd have to
- 5:43engage in, I think to redress the the harm that he's caused.
- 5:47And and Yemi Jewish people are are not the only group that Yeey
- 5:51or Kanye has deeply, deeply offended, not least black people
- 5:56who he also addresses in his in his his his sorry letter if you.
- 6:01Yes, so it goes back to what he said about slavery being a
- 6:04choice, which obviously he recanted and apologised for.
- 6:08But though that's a deep wound in the black community that
- 6:11can't just be healed by a simple, sorry.
- 6:15To Toby's point, and as I said on Channel 4 News this past
- 6:19weekend, there needs to be a pattern of him really wanting to
- 6:23engage with these communities to really understand the pain that
- 6:26he's caused. And I believe that even without,
- 6:30you know, wireless or anything pertaining to it, he should be
- 6:33doing that anyway. But I guess the main thing
- 6:35that's really interesting me about, you know, the kind of
- 6:37line around him in the lead up to him being, you know, blocked
- 6:41entry was that his performance should be stopped even if he
- 6:48meets with, you know, members of the Jewish community.
- 6:50And I, I wonder why that is. I feel like obviously the
- 6:55performance in wireless is, I believe in July.
- 6:58So let's just say that he wasn't banned.
- 7:00Let's just say he wasn't blocked and he was willing to come to
- 7:04the UK this month, next month and really start to like have
- 7:07that dialogue, have that open dialogue with these communities.
- 7:11Is there? Does that then mean that even if
- 7:14that happens, he still should be banned from performing at
- 7:17wireless? I guess I'm just trying to
- 7:19understand the logic behind being welcoming to these
- 7:23conversations with him while also pushing for him to not
- 7:26perform. Well, Doctor Green, what do you
- 7:28think? I.
- 7:29Think there's a there's a couple of things I would say to that.
- 7:31One is here's an individual according to his account, whose
- 7:35mental instability expresses itself by him claiming to be a
- 7:40Nazi and promoting Nazi symbols, iconography, slogans, speeches,
- 7:46claims and submitted discourse, etcetera.
- 7:48OK. And it's clear that this is
- 7:50somebody who is not in his own rights, a stable individual.
- 7:55We're not willing to take the risk of having such an
- 7:58individual take to the stage in a couple of months time, just
- 8:02months on from releasing and promoting records with and and
- 8:07tracks with titles like how Hitler sampling speech as a
- 8:10matter of Hitler, you know, within the last year, just
- 8:13months ago. Well, we're not really willing
- 8:15to take that risk. Even if he now says that he's
- 8:17renounced renounced those positions.
- 8:19We'd want to be more confident. And I think that's an issue of
- 8:22of time. And the second factor is what
- 8:24we've seen in the United States is that Kanye West's remarks
- 8:29attract far right individuals, attract individuals to go around
- 8:34with banners saying Kanye West is right about Jews.
- 8:37And what we know also from the pattern in this country is one
- 8:41of the things that triggers a surge in anti-Semitic incidences
- 8:44in this country. And we have this from from the
- 8:45data are other anti-Semitic incidences.
- 8:48And we saw that for example when A and it does it.
- 8:50So it's not just what he says it, it then legitimizes a whole
- 8:54other wider discourse. And may attract anti-Semitic
- 8:56individuals or far out individuals to that specific
- 8:58location at that specific time with a specific purpose of
- 9:02taking advantage of the anti-Semitic rhetoric that Kanye
- 9:05West is trying to normalize. So there's a fear then that he
- 9:09might just become this symbol in the UK for the far right,
- 9:12essentially. That's one of the fears, I
- 9:14think, yes, although who the heck knows what he's going to
- 9:16say on that stage. It's hard to kind of know and
- 9:18hard to kind of extricate and extrapolate the exact influence
- 9:22that Kanye was the man the person has had on other far
- 9:26right sensibilities. I think it's very, very, very
- 9:29messy in that regard. And I guess while I hear what
- 9:33Toby's saying just as far as like that precaution, I guess
- 9:36that's that, that then leads me to question like, when is the
- 9:40right time? You know what I mean?
- 9:41I mean, obviously the healing process for communities, you
- 9:45know, takes as long as it needs to take.
- 9:46But if we're going to go by that logic, we're going to go by that
- 9:50reasoning, then Kanye West may never be able to perform here
- 9:54again. So I feel like there's there's
- 9:57something that needs to be said about, you know, someone who's
- 9:59willing to speak to people who he's offended and, you know,
- 10:03really hearing them out. And listen, the jury still out
- 10:05on whether, if he was to have these conversations, whether
- 10:09he'd actually change. Again, that's kind of hard to
- 10:11measure. Do you buy the apology?
- 10:14Initially I didn't buy the the apology because to Toby's point,
- 10:17he's apologized about things ad nauseam at this point.
- 10:20And I feel like there has been very little action on the ground
- 10:24to really show that he is actually, you know, changed face
- 10:27and he's actually like his opinions have changed.
- 10:29So here's a question. The government has banned people
- 10:34before because they are not their presence would be not
- 10:39conducive to public good. They've been declared non grata,
- 10:43generally far right figures or Islamists whose whose entire
- 10:50career, whose work is about division.
- 10:56But we're talking about a musician here who, whose work is
- 11:00not fundamentally about that, but has clearly said some
- 11:02incredibly offensive and damaging things.
- 11:06So isn't, isn't there a risk here of the government
- 11:11overstepping entering culture wars in a way that is actually
- 11:16quite problematic? So I guess to you Doctor Green
- 11:19that this is not the same for example as saying Git Wilders
- 11:24isn't welcome in the UK. So look, I think, you know, to
- 11:28the broad point, should the government intervene in culture
- 11:31wars and, and are we comfortable with the government banning
- 11:33people coming to this country for expressing opinions?
- 11:35I think we ought to all be very cautious about the government
- 11:38using those kinds of powers. We wouldn't want to see the
- 11:40government use those kinds of powers except in the most
- 11:44extreme circumstances are absolutely necessary and.
- 11:47Is is that where we are? Is this the?
- 11:49Is this the extreme circumstance?
- 11:51Well, I think it is justified in this case.
- 11:53As I said before, I think it's regrettable it's come to us.
- 11:55What I think we really need to ask is why the festival
- 11:58organizers thought, and I think on this, Yemi agrees with me,
- 12:03why the festival organizers thought it was a good idea to
- 12:06invite this, this artist when his record of problematic
- 12:13statements and even recordings is so current and so recent?
- 12:18And how could they think a simple, you know, a simple
- 12:21apology, given the context of what we know over the last few
- 12:24years, is enough to just kind of wave that away.
- 12:27And if this was a offence caused to any other ethnic minority,
- 12:32what I mean, there's offence cause to black people as well,
- 12:34as you've pointed out. I mean, we find certainly from
- 12:37the Jewish community perspective, we wonder if this
- 12:39was offence caused or the focus was on another ethnic minority
- 12:42group, would the indifference be the same?
- 12:45Perhaps it would, because in this case we know the offence is
- 12:48also caused to black people. Doctor Green, clear something up
- 12:50for us. Wyler said that they had reached
- 12:53out to Jewish leaders, Jewish community groups.
- 12:57Did they speak to you? So that could be very, very
- 12:59clear about that. So the Board of Deputies, we
- 13:04reached out by in writing to the festival organizers more than a
- 13:08week ago. We got a response from Melvin
- 13:14Ben, festival promoter, in writing yesterday, suggesting a
- 13:21meeting to which we responded positively.
- 13:25And I also know because I've been in touch with partner
- 13:27organizations, other Jewish communal organizations that I've
- 13:29been in touch with a similar pattern.
- 13:31They have not had an outreach from their festival organizers
- 13:35they that they refused to engage with.
- 13:36Not at all. Yemi should should Wireless have
- 13:39seen this coming? Absolutely.
- 13:41And I think when it comes to wireless and the booking of
- 13:43festivals, business is business. Ultimately, Kanye West is one of
- 13:47the biggest artists in the world.
- 13:48He's someone who wants you to announce his name on the
- 13:51billing. He's going to sell out all three
- 13:53days of a festival quite easily. But no, they definitely, they
- 13:56definitely got it wrong this time.
- 13:57They definitely misjudged the situation.
- 13:59And I think even after, you know, Pepsi pulling out and
- 14:02Diageo pulling out and the statements that have been made
- 14:05from, you know, Festival Republic, as well as Kanye
- 14:09himself, kind of show that they're kind of, you know,
- 14:12standing strong on this, on their stance and their decision.
- 14:16And yeah, I don't think it's the best for any parties involved
- 14:20really. And and there'll be people
- 14:22watching this who may have heard of Kanye but don't understand
- 14:26his significance. How?
- 14:28How big is he and why in hip hop is he so revered?
- 14:33Yeah, Kanye West is one of the biggest not just hip hop
- 14:36artists, but music artists of the 21st century.
- 14:38You know, he came into the game as a as a scrappy producer,
- 14:42producing for the likes of Jay-Z.
- 14:44And he finally got his big break releasing his debut album.
- 14:48And then he then went on to kind of curate this career where he
- 14:53just gave us so many hit singles, so many moments.
- 14:57And it's not even just the music.
- 14:58Outside of the music, he has kind of proven to be like a
- 15:02source for, I guess, political intent in a sense.
- 15:06You know, we go back to when he said that George Bush doesn't
- 15:08care about black people. He's these kind of political
- 15:12statements have always kind of been hard coded in him.
- 15:15You know, he's the son of Black Panthers, so he's always had
- 15:18that kind of zeal in him. And even as he's kind of matured
- 15:22in his music career, he's then lent his genius to, you know,
- 15:26fashion to culture. You know, Yeezy trainers were
- 15:29some of the most sought after trainers on the globe like a few
- 15:33years ago. So his imprint on music, his
- 15:35imprint on culture is undeniable.
- 15:38Here's a guy who can sell out stadiums, he can sell out
- 15:40festivals. His he's.
- 15:42He's the total package, really. Doctor Green Clearly Kanye has
- 15:47become someone who's very problematic, but I just wondered
- 15:50it just in terms of the kind of reach.
- 15:52Have you listened to his music ever?
- 15:54No, I must confess I'm not really a a hip hop Raptor rap
- 15:59listener so I can't really comment on on his music.
- 16:01But obviously we're all aware of his of his cultural impact and
- 16:05that's what makes this all the most serious.
- 16:07I mean, if it was a marginal and irrelevant figure then nobody
- 16:12would notice. But this is a guy not only that
- 16:14has the cultural reach that he has, but has the financial
- 16:17resources to take out an ad at the Super Bowl directing people
- 16:21to a website where the only thing on sale is AT shirt with a
- 16:25swastika logo and emblem. So it's all the more concerning
- 16:29from our perspective that here's a guy with massive financial
- 16:33resources, with huge cultural reach that could have the
- 16:38potential to promote and normalize the kinds of opinions
- 16:42and views and attitudes and symbols and iconography that
- 16:47he's promoting. Toby, if I, if I could, if I
- 16:50may. Let's just say none of this
- 16:52happened. Let's just say that you know, he
- 16:54hasn't been banned. He's still set to perform a
- 16:57wireless. He comes to the UK tomorrow.
- 16:59He meets with you. He meets with other members of
- 17:03the Jewish community and he you hear him out, you hear his
- 17:05peace. Would you?
- 17:09How would you react? How would you?
- 17:10How would you? How would you?
- 17:12How would you be around him? Would you believe him?
- 17:14Would you believe his his remorse?
- 17:16How would you approach that? Yeah.
- 17:18Well, firstly just to clarify what what what we said is that
- 17:21we would be interested to meet with him, but only if he was not
- 17:25performing at the festival. So I think the idea that we we
- 17:27not want to be in some kind of negotiation type situation.
- 17:31But if that interaction were to happen, I think of course
- 17:34representative of the Jewish community would want to listen.
- 17:37If somebody was coming expressing genuine remorse and
- 17:40wanted to engage and wanted to heal and wanted to build bridges
- 17:44and put right things that that that they've done wrong, then
- 17:48we'd engage in that openly. And of course we've got great
- 17:50sympathy for any individual suffering with mental health
- 17:54issues and disorders. And we'd hear and we'd listen
- 17:56and listen and engage and we'd want to test and, and, and how
- 18:02genuine that engagement is. But I think, you know, whatever
- 18:07form that engagement theoretically would take, you
- 18:10know, he he can't heal the harms that he has done simply by
- 18:14engaging with with British Jews begin the context of a festival
- 18:18that he's really keen to perform at.
- 18:20OK, he has to. It's going to be a much wider
- 18:22process I think, for him to to put right the things that that
- 18:26he's done rather. So my my closing question
- 18:29gentleman, was going to be what do wireless do next?
- 18:33But I have some breaking news because whilst while we've been
- 18:37recording, it's been cancelled, the festival's been cancelled.
- 18:41Yeah, yeah. Are you surprised?
- 18:43Very, I feel like it it's it's it's it's a couple of months
- 18:48out. I feel like they and this is
- 18:50another conversation about wireless in general, because
- 18:52obviously as Auk festival, they should be doing the most to
- 18:54platform British talent and this would have been a perfect
- 18:58opportunity to do so in Kanye's stead.
- 19:01So the fact that they're cancelling it entirely is knee
- 19:05jerk, I'd say. And I feel like it's quite
- 19:07misguided because I feel like it it didn't have to get to this
- 19:10point. Obviously it's a great shame.
- 19:13You know, we all love music festivals.
- 19:15We should all want to celebrate culture.
- 19:17We should want to create opportunities for for artists to
- 19:19be heard, diverse artists, as Yemi said, British artists.
- 19:23It's a it's a great shame. I hope that other festival
- 19:27organisers will well think carefully now and and just just
- 19:31take that extra due diligence and extra care.
- 19:34It is a kind of warning shot across the bowels of other other
- 19:38event organisers, isn't it? Yeah, yeah, yeah.
- 19:40I think other festival organisers will look at this and
- 19:42and be startled and they'll be alarmed by it.
- 19:45The fact that it's moved so quickly, the fact that the
- 19:47government played a role undeniably in it too.
- 19:51It kind of, like I said at the top of this, it sets a very
- 19:54worrying precedent for what festivals, independently of
- 19:57themselves, can really do and and and achieve in this country.
- 20:02So yeah, that's my at least my immediate reaction to it.
- 20:05It it it seems if he was their main and so far only advertised
- 20:12act and he can't come, then perhaps it's it's it's
- 20:15inevitable that this is that this is the outcome.
- 20:18The worrying precedent is the apparent indifference of the
- 20:21festival organizers to this record of anti-Semitic and Nazi
- 20:26remarks of an artist not causing them to think, actually, maybe
- 20:30we shouldn't be inviting this person.
- 20:31That's the worrying precedent. Wireless have released a
- 20:34statement. Let let me read it to you and
- 20:36just and, and get your response to it.
- 20:39So obviously this is this is following the Home Office
- 20:42decision. As with every Wireless Festival,
- 20:47multiple stakeholders were consulted in advance of booking
- 20:51yay and no concerns were highlighted at the time.
- 20:54That's what they say, they continue. anti-Semitism in all
- 20:58its forms is abhorrent. We recognise the real and
- 21:01personal impact these issues have had.
- 21:04As Ye said today he acknowledges that words are not enough and in
- 21:09spite of this, he still hopes to be given the opportunity to
- 21:12begin a conversation with the Jewish community in the UK.
- 21:18Dodge Green. Well, perhaps now that the
- 21:20festival's not going ahead, that there's a basis for that
- 21:22engagement to happen. But as I say, I think you know,
- 21:26he, he's an American artist. You know, he, I think there's
- 21:29many other communities and state, you know, people who have
- 21:32been hurt and harmed that he needs to engage with.
- 21:35And, and Yami, do you think it also opens space for a, for a
- 21:38discussion in in the black community, in the hip hop
- 21:42community about the responsibility, about artist
- 21:45responsibility? 100% I think anytime there is a
- 21:48controversy surrounding an artist, especially someone of
- 21:52Kanye's stature, someone that we love, someone who we're invested
- 21:55in what he says. And the, I guess the, the
- 22:00problematic nature of it all really does implore people to
- 22:04really understand or at least challenge their perception or
- 22:07challenge their understanding of, you know, the type of artist
- 22:09that they take in or you know, who they might defend, you know,
- 22:13to be able to see at a festival. It is quite interesting because
- 22:16it in in this moment of and lots of people will contest the
- 22:22phrase culture wars, but the the rise of right wing politics that
- 22:27the, the community tensions that we are all all experiencing.
- 22:30What what this appears to have told us is there is still one
- 22:33line that you cannot cross and that is the Holocaust and that
- 22:37is Hitler. I hope that's not the case.
- 22:39I think this is not about a kind of I, I, I.
- 22:44I think that that there are a whole host of issues on which
- 22:50artists need to show responsibility, not only those
- 22:53that are offense to the Jewish community, but offense to, you
- 22:56know, and the Jewish community is not looking for protections
- 23:01that any other ethnic minority is not seeking.
- 23:04And I think that the same standards should apply to any
- 23:08minority group and and against any form of hate speech that may
- 23:12cause harm to part of our society.
- 23:14It's been, it's been a kamikaze day.
- 23:16We went from, you know, all of the sponsors pulling out to now
- 23:20the first of all, completely cancelled.
- 23:21So I think this is a very interesting episode of what
- 23:26happens when, you know, as we talk about culture wars.
- 23:28It's a very interesting conversation and debate about,
- 23:31you know, the extent that, you know, independent entities like
- 23:35a wireless or festival Republic will go.
- 23:37Hopefully this will be a learning curve for festivals,
- 23:40for hopefully the government as well, in ways that we can move
- 23:43forward. Kanye or yay has just released
- 23:46another album, he's going on a tour, he's been performing in
- 23:49the States, sell out tours, clearly fans in America, and I
- 23:55suspect if Wireless had continued here it would have
- 23:58sold out. Clearly, fans are able, willing,
- 24:03prepared to separate the music from the musician.
- 24:06For sure, for sure. And I think that's, you know,
- 24:08obviously personal reasons. Everybody's threshold is
- 24:11different as well. Some people are very happy to
- 24:13ignore, you know, the open and glaring problems that their
- 24:16favorite artists carry with them.
- 24:19They're going to make their choices regardless.
- 24:21And I think when it comes to Kanye West, as much as he is
- 24:25such an amazing artist, he is someone who's soundtracked a lot
- 24:29of people's lives. And people cannot extrapolate
- 24:32from that. They can't extrapolate their own
- 24:34feelings from whatever negativity he might be
- 24:37espousing. So I think, yeah, it would have
- 24:39definitely sold out wireless all three days.
- 24:42And the fact that he's still performing and is and is able to
- 24:44generate such a loyal audience kind of just speaks one to the
- 24:50influence and the impact of the man himself, but also just this
- 24:54this idea of, you know, thresholds being different and
- 24:58maybe people not necessarily caring about who he offends as
- 25:01well. Obviously I understand that he's
- 25:03a global star. If he'd never engaged in any of
- 25:05this terrible rhetoric, he'd be selling out concerts.
- 25:08If we look at the at the track list of this album, not only
- 25:11does it include this track, How Hitler, it includes a track
- 25:15entitled Gas Chamber. It includes a track, a track
- 25:18entitled, I think if I'm getting this right, Jesus, yay.
- 25:21Hitler is the name of the of the of the track, right?
- 25:25This is a very disturbing pattern.
- 25:27And it's not only that you've got Kanye West, a global, you
- 25:33know, successful artist that's now dabbling in or not dabbling.
- 25:38He's embracing this Nazi iconography and language.
- 25:41But unfortunately the terrible truth is that iconography and
- 25:46far right and extremist language also sells.
- 25:50We are in a global information environment where extremism
- 25:55sells and that is something very, very troubling that we've
- 25:58got to pay attention to also. Doctor Green, he's he's banned
- 26:02currently as we understand it in Australia, but to what extent is
- 26:05this discussion taking place in the USA amongst American Jewry?
- 26:12I don't, I, I don't really know to be honest, to be honest with
- 26:14you. But obviously, you know, you can
- 26:18only imagine that the concerns of the American Jewish community
- 26:21will be very, very high. And in the US what we're seeing
- 26:24unfortunately is a normalization of far right anti-Semitic
- 26:29rhetoric much more broad, which is much broader as a phenomenon
- 26:33in Kanye West. I just give a particular
- 26:35illustration. I think it was shortly before
- 26:38the before the US election that both Kanye West and another far
- 26:45right Holocaust denying anti semite by the name of Nick
- 26:49Fuentes went to have dinner with Donald Trump at his home in Mar
- 26:54a Lago. So in the US context, I think
- 26:56you'll find the American Jewish community very alarmed by the
- 26:59normalisation of far right anti-Semitism as a phenomenon
- 27:03that goes far beyond Kanye West and also touches on the broader
- 27:09MAGA movement. But of course, in in this case,
- 27:12it ultimately has come down to a work permit issue.
- 27:15Kanye's American and preventing him from performing.
- 27:18There would be a completely different discussion around
- 27:22freedom of speech, I suspect on a on on a a rapidly moving day.
- 27:27Doctor Toby Green and Yemi Abiadi, thank you very much
- 27:31indeed for sharing your thoughts and insights on on Kanye and
- 27:34wireless and his banning. We appreciate your time.
- 27:38Thank you for having. US, thank you very much.
- 27:40You've been listening to or even watching the forecast.
- 27:44I'm Kami Enzarem. Thanks for joining us.