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The five-time Grammy Award winner, who was
sentenced to one year in jail in 2010 relating to a gun
possession charge, was scheduled to take to the stage at the
Strawberries & Creem festival on Saturday.
U.S. rapper Ludacris will now perform instead.
"Due to extreme circumstances beyond our control or influence,
we are very sorry to inform you that Lil Wayne is now unable to
perform at the festival on Saturday 18th June," festival
organisers said in a statement on Wednesday.
"Lil Wayne has been refused entry to the UK directly by the Home
Office in a last minute decision. We are deeply disappointed by
this sudden and negative ruling. We have received very minimal
notice, and the timing of the decision is of course upsetting
for all involved."
Lil Wayne's performance would have been his first in the UK in
14 years, according to the festival.
"Any individual who has been sentenced to a custodial sentence
of 12 months or more must have their application refused," a
Home Office spokesperson said.
Representatives for Lil Wayne, whose real name is Dwayne Carter
Jr., could not immediately be reached for comment.
In 2010, the rapper served eight months of a one year sentence
at New York's Rikers Island prison stemming from a 2007 gun
possession charge.
Last year, he was pardoned by former U.S. President Donald Trump
on his last day in office, after pleading guilty to illegally
possessing a loaded, gold-plated handgun when his chartered jet
landed in Miami in December 2019.
He had faced a sentence of up to 10 years in prison.
(Reporting by Marie-Louise Gumuchian, Editing by William
Maclean)
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