It started with Senator Rick Scott sending a letter last week calling on the Tampa Sports Authority, which operates Raymond James Stadium, to cancel the June 26 and 28 concerts.
Now, the Florida Holocaust Museum, the Tampa Jewish Federation, and the Florida National Organization for Women (FL NOW) have issued statements against the rapper’s performance.
In early 2025, Ye made a statement on the social media platform X claiming to be a Nazi. He also referenced Nazism in the lyrics and music video of a song titled “Heil Hitler” and promoted the sale of swastika-inscribed T-shirts through a Super Bowl advertisement.
Earlier this year, Ye apologized for the comments and actions wall street journal Advertisement, attributed his behavior to bipolar disorder and a frontal lobe injury from an accident.
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Still, his words are having an impact on members of the Jewish community, who say they don’t see the truth in his apology.
Eric Stillman, president of The Florida Holocaust Museum, is one of those who does not believe Ye’s repentance is genuine.
“To say that they were sorry and to say that it was based on a frenzied incident and then to take no action, to demonstrate that this was an honest change of heart, is very hard to take honestly for members of the Jewish community in Tampa and throughout the region and around the world,” Stillman said.
The museum released a statement Monday saying that hosting someone with a history of anti-Semitism sends the message that “anti-Semitic bigotry can be accepted or ignored for something as simple as a concert.”
The museum also announced it will offer free admission from June 26-28 – the days they will be in Tampa to perform.
Stillman said opening the museum to a wider audience during those days provides an opportunity to further educate themselves about the Holocaust for those who are unhappy with the concerts.
Stillman said, “They can demonstrate through their actions that they want to create something positive out of this situation as opposed to what’s happening, which is that someone who made very hateful and very hurtful comments against the Jewish people is getting a very big platform in our area.”
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“We recognize the concerns and viewpoints being expressed regarding upcoming events at Raymond James Stadium,” a June 5 statement from the Tampa Sports Authority said. “As a public agency, we adhere to the principles of freedom of expression in the operation of our venue, however we do not condone the offensive and divisive comments or actions of any artist.”
But FL Now vice president Debbie DeLand said free speech shouldn’t apply to this situation because what you promoted in the past was hate speech — and giving them a platform “normalizes and glorifies” those statements.
“This has been a continuing pattern of hate speech and Nazism,” Deland said. “You don’t just turn him over.”
She says holding this protest in Tampa sends the wrong message about what can and cannot be said and what can be forgiven.
“I think it sends the wrong message to the community that anti-Semitism, hate speech, Nazism is OK, and it’s not,” DeLand said.
“We have no institutional credibility, because we are normalizing and legitimizing his Nazi-glorifying statements.”
Tampa is the only remaining stop on the North American leg of the rapper’s tour, after two sold-out shows in Los Angeles earlier this year celebrating the release of his new album. bully.
Stillman said this sends the wrong message about the Tampa Bay area to the local Jewish community and the rest of the country.
“Do we really want the Tampa Bay area to be known throughout the United States and around the world as the place that gave Kanye West a platform when he has a years-long, proven history of making hateful and harmful anti-Semitic attacks against Jewish people?” Stillman said.
Joanna Riva is the Zimmerman Rush Family Radio news intern at WUSF, the Bay Area’s NPR affiliate.
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