The Hague, Netherlands - Kanye West, whose concerts have been banned in several European venues over controversial antisemitic remarks, may perform in the Netherlands for two concerts in June, officials said Friday.
The 48-year-old, also known as "Ye", has sparked widespread anger over remarks glorifying Nazi leader Adolf Hitler and for antisemitic rants, which he has blamed on having bipolar disorder.
The mayor of the eastern city of Arnhem, Ahmed Marcouch, has granted a permit for the June concerts to go ahead despite what he described as "reprehensible statements made by the artist in the past".
The majority of the Dutch House of Representatives had called for the rapper to be denied entry to the country.
But asylum and migration minister Bart van den Brink said there were no formal legal grounds to bar him from the Netherlands.
"You need clear reasons to bar people from your country. We did not find those in the analyses that were conducted," said Van den Brink.
West is scheduled to play in Arnhem on June 6 and 8 – the latter date being the rapper's birthday.
He is also slated to appear in Istanbul on May 30.
However, his extreme statements and actions – last year he released a song called Heil Hitler, with swastika T-shirts advertised on his website – caused a backlash against his planned European tour.