Kanye West’s upcoming shows in Tampa, Fla. are facing major pushback from local leaders.
On Monday (June 15), a bipartisan group of Florida officials, including Republican Senators Rick Scott and Ashley Moody and Democrat Charlie Crist, joined Jewish leaders, Holocaust survivors and advocacy groups to protest the decision to book Ye at Tampa’s publicly owned Raymond James Stadium.
The two upcoming concerts, taking place later this month, have sparked widespread backlash due to Ye’s history of antisemitic statements and leaders are questioning whether a taxpayer-associated venue should host the performances.
Speaking at the Florida Holocaust Museum in St. Petersburg, Scott said, “Kanye West has been an outspoken antisemite and has even called himself a Nazi. That’s not something we support in Florida, and it’s certainly not something worthy of supporting by our tax dollars. Raymond James Stadium is a publicly funded venue. Taxpayers should have a say in what happens. It’s actually their money.”
“If they allow this, then what’s the next event? And if they’re not held accountable, if you’re Jewish in this city, in this state, how do you feel? You feel like a second-class citizen, that people don’t give a damn,” he added, per WUSF. “We have a clear moral duty to reject hate at every level.”
In response, the Tampa Sports Authority issued the following statement: “We condemn antisemitism from any source. However, we also respect free speech rights guaranteed under the U.S. Constitution, even when we disagree with that speech. In addition, no taxpayer money is being used for staging the Ye concerts. To suggest otherwise, is false.”
Examples of Ye’s antisemitic remarks cited during the meeting included his October 2022 post on X where he said he’d go “death con 3 on Jewish people,” as well as his praise of Adolf Hitler in an interview the following month.
In January of this year, Ye apologized in a full-page ad in The Wall Street Journal, saying his bipolar disorder contributed to what he described as “a four-month-long manic episode of psychotic, paranoid and impulsive behavior that destroyed my life.”
While the shows are still scheduled to continue, the Florida Holocaust Museum will have free admission from June 26 to 28 in response.
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