‘Anti-vax’ Kanye West could be barred from Australia

Kanye West may be unable to receive an Australian visa under the same vaccine-related rules that saw tennis legend Novak Djokovic kicked out of the country this month.

According to News.com.au, the rapper is rumoured to be bringing his Donda tour Down Under in the near future, but his vaccination status and love of free speech could see him barred from Australia.

The 44-year-old only received his first dose of the Covid-19 vaccine, before changing his mind and opting not to get a second dose or a booster shot. 

‘I travelled to Paris a couple weeks ago, and I had to go through Lisbon because you can go through Lisbon without being vaccinated,’ he told the Drink Champs podcast last year.

‘I only got one of the shots, so I’m half-ccinated,’ he added.

Prime Minister Scott Morrison has insisted that celebrities won’t be exempt from following the country’s strict Covid protocols. 

‘The rules are you have to be fully vaccinated. Those are the rules. They apply to everybody, as people have seen most recently,’ he told reporters.

No show: The rapper is rumoured to be bringing his Donda tour Down Under in the near future, but his vaccination status and outspoken personality could see him barred from Australia

‘It doesn’t matter who you are, they are the rules. Follow the rules, you can come. You don’t follow the rules, you can’t.’

When cancelling Novak Djokovic’s Australian visa earlier this month, Immigration Minister Alex Hawke admitted that the main reason was to prevent him from inciting any ‘anti-vax sentiment’ among the Australian public.

‘[Novak’s] presence in Australia, given his well-known stance on vaccination, creates a risk of strengthening the antivaccination sentiment of a minority of the Australian community,’ Hawke wrote. 

Quelling dissent: Australia’s immigration minister Alex Hawke admitted that he cancelled Novak Djokovic’s (pictured) Australian visa earlier this month in order to prevent any ‘antivaccination sentiment’ from spreading among the people

Back in 2020, West spread conspiracy theories about the vaccine, calling it ‘the mark of the beast’ and claiming that it was a plot to put microchips in people.

‘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,’ he told Forbes at the time.

‘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.’

Health experts say that vaccines are safe and effective and that side effects are rare and there is no evidence that they contain microchips.

Conspiracies: Back in 2020, West spread conspiracy theories about the vaccine, calling it ‘the mark of the beast’ and claiming that it was a plot to put microchips in people