After the failure of a petition launched by Sen. Rick Scott to bar resurgent rap superstar Kanye “Ye” West from performing on Friday and Sunday at a publicly funded Tampa arena over the rapper’s past antisemitic statements and songs, two protest vehicles will circle the venue as fans of the controversial rapper file into his show.
On June 3, Scott launched a Change.org petition demanding that the Tampa Sports Authority cancel West’s late June concerts at the city’s Raymond James Stadium. Scott cited West’s controversial antisemitic remarks and other actions in the letter he wrote to the stadium’s governing body. He wrote that Florida’s politicians should do everything in their power to ensure that public money and resources not be used for West’s performance.
“Kanye West is an admitted and prolific antisemite who has slandered Jews, praised Adolf Hitler, called himself a Nazi and sold swastika merchandise on his website — among his numerous other antisemitic remarks and actions. Florida — and especially the Tampa Bay area — has a large Jewish population,” Scott said. “Forcing them to support these concerts through their tax dollars is a complete slap in the face to the Jews in Florida and across the country and world.”
Beginning in 2022, antisemitic and misogynistic language from the rapper and star producer has burst into public view several times, most notably on his X feed, where last year he wrote missives like, “I LOVE HITLER NOW WHAT BITCHES,” “IM A NAZI” and “Hitler was sooooo fresh.” He also began selling t-shirts emblazoned with swastikas on the front via his company’s website.
Then, in January, West placed a full-page ad in The Wall Street Journal retracting a number of statements he made on social media over the past several years. In the mea culpa, the mercurial rap mogul attributed his past behavior to a brain injury, while declaring, “I love Jewish people.”
Many were skeptical of this about-face; most said they are happy to see that he appears to be on the right path. But not everyone — and as his comeback record, Bully, was released with a smattering of concert dates planned, the rapper learned that the U.K. was denying him an entry visa and three nights headlining the massive Wireless Festival had to be scrapped. A planned gig at an arena in Poland was the next domino to fall for the rapper.
Scott’s petition gained over 11,000 signatures in three weeks and he was joined by Senator Ashley Moody, chair of the Department of Justice’s Task Force to Combat Antisemitism; Holocaust survivor Toni Rinde; Jewish community leaders; and several national and state officials in his denouncement and plea to the stadium’s top officials. But no number of citizens the senator found to agree with his cause would be enough to shut down West’s shows — or most anyone’s, for that matter, because the Tampa Sports Authority issued a statement in response to Scott’s pleas that it cannot shut a show down because the venue’s management operates the venue according to free speech laws.
“We recognize the concerns and viewpoints being expressed about the upcoming events at Raymond James Stadium,” the statement reads. “As a public agency, we follow the principles of free speech in operating our venue, although we do not condone remarks or actions from any artists that are offensive and divisive.”
Local news station Bay News 9 reported that a legal expert who reviewed the agreement between the rapper and the stadium said that the provisions protect the concerts from cancellation because of any past statements. The rapper apparently requested this unusual inclusion in the contract, and only major situations could lead to cancellation, for example, if the federal government were to raise the national terrorism threat assessment to Level 5, or if there were a large public health threat.
Scott and the supporters of his anti-West agenda seem to have taken the freedom of speech message to heart, because on Friday at 4 p.m. local time, mobile billboards will circle Raymond James Stadium in protest of West’s first of two shows scheduled for this weekend. The trucks will be pointing people to Scott’s Change.org petition demanding that taxpayer-funded venues refuse to book Ye because of his public antisemitic rhetoric.
Following the failure of the petition, the Florida Holocaust Museum will be offering free admission from Friday through Sunday while West is in town to perform.
The Hollywood Reporter has reached out to a representative for West and to Sen. Scott’s office for comment but did not immediately hear back on Friday.
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