Last week, a story in the Sydney Morning Herald prompted speculation that Kanye West is set to tour Australia in March. The article largely revolved around an unverified claim that West’s team had reached out to the AFL, who own Marvel Stadium in Melbourne, asking them to shift an opening fixture between St Kilda and Collingwood to accommodate West’s production team to bump in.
While speaking to the press over the weekend, Prime Minister Scott Morrison warned the rapper that he would need to be fully vaccinated against COVID-19 if he wanted to enter the country, as per the current requirements for overseas travellers. “The rules are you’ve got to be fully vaccinated. They’re the rules,” Morrison said.
“They apply to everybody, as people have seen most recently,” he continued, likely referring to unvaccinated Serbian tennis player Novak Djokovic, who, after travelling to Australia to play in the Australian Open, was deported. “It doesn’t matter who you are, they’re the rules. Follow the rules, you can come. If you don’t follow the rules, you can’t.”
West’s vaccination status is unclear. In an interview on the Drink Champs podcast last November, the rapper said he’d received only one dose of vaccination against COVID-19. “I only got one of the shots, so I’m half-ccinated,” West said at the time.
In a 2020 interview with Forbes, West expressed significant skepticism over vaccination and made false claims about their effects. “When they say the way we’re going to fix COVID is with a vaccine, I’m extremely cautious. That’s the mark of the beast. They want to put chips inside of us, they want to do all kinds of things, to make it where we can’t cross the gates of heaven.”
Trade and Tourism Minister Dan Tehan said that ultimately the result of West’s visa application will be up to Immigration Minister Alex Hawke. “He will look at that visa application like he does all other visa applications,” Tehan commented. “I can assure everyone, all Australians, that it will be looked at in a diligent matter and like all visa applications, the application would have to adhere to Australian rules and protocols for that visa to be approved.”
Regardless of West’s vaccination status, it still remains unconfirmed that the rapper is indeed planning to tour Australia in March. Ye’s last Australian tour was in 2014 as part of his Yeezus tour. Since that time he’s released the albums The Life of Pablo (2016), Ye (2018), Jesus Is King (2019) and DONDA (2021).
This week, Ye announced his 11th album, DONDA 2, would be released on Saturday, 22nd February, and that it was executive produced by Future. Earlier this month, Ye released the single ‘Eazy’, a collaboration with The Game.
