Should Kanye West, the rapper who also goes by “Ye,” be forgiven for his past viciously antisemitic comments? Opinions are mixed. Following his ban from the United Kingdom, where he was slated to perform at London’s Wireless Festival, West issued a letter expressing remorse for his past actions and a desire to make amends.

“I’ve been following the conversation around Wireless and want to address it directly,” he wrote. “My only goal is to come to London and present a show of change, bringing unity, peace and love through my music.”

“I would be grateful for the opportunity to meet with members of the Jewish community in the UK in person, to listen,” he added. “I know words aren’t enough — I’ll have to show change through my actions. If you’re open, I’m here.”

Phil Rosenberg, president of the Board of Deputies of British Jews, who had called for West to be banned, said it was too soon for forgiveness. To show his remorse, West would have to agree not to perform at the festival, he said.

“It has been less than a year since Kanye West released a song entitled ‘Heil Hitler,’ the culmination of three years of appalling antisemitism,” Rosenberg said.

“Even while claiming remorse today, his latest album includes a track first released last year with the abhorrent title ‘Gas Chamber,'” he added. “The Jewish community will want to see a genuine remorse and change before believing that the appropriate place to test this sincerity is on the main stage at the Wireless Festival.”

“As such, we are willing to meet Kanye West as part of his journey of healing, but only after he agrees not to play the Wireless Festival this year,” he concluded.

Others disagree. Melvin Benn, the managing director of Festival Republic, which promotes Wireless, called for grace.

“What Ye has said in the past about Jews and Hitler is as abhorrent to me as it is to the Jewish community, the prime minister and others that have commented and — taking him at his word — to Ye now also,” he said.

“Having had a person in my life for the last 15 years who suffers from mental illness, I have witnessed many episodes of despicable behaviour that I have had to forgive and move on from,” he explained. “If I wasn’t before, I have become a person of forgiveness and hope in all aspects of my life, including work.”

“Forgiveness and giving people a second chance are becoming a lost virtue in this ever-increasing divisive world and I would ask people to reflect on their instant comments of disgust at the likelihood of him performing (as was mine) and offer some forgiveness and hope to him as I have decided to do,” he added.

The latest brouhaha over Kanye West and his past antisemitism follows his full-page ad in The Wall Street Journal in January apologizing for his actions and his November meeting with Rabbi Yoshiyahu Yosef Pinto in New York City, in which he expressed his remorse, described his struggles with mental illness and accepted responsibility for his behavior.