“Florida should not fund antisemitism.” Senator Rick Scott said it at the Florida Holocaust Museum in St. Petersburg, with a Holocaust survivor, a former governor and a fellow senator standing beside him. The target was a pair of Kanye West concerts at Raymond James Stadium in Tampa.
Scott wants the Tampa Sports Authority to cancel them. The shows, by the rapper now known as Ye, were set for June 26 and 29.
His campaign started with a letter to the authority’s board of directors, dated June 4. He called it a “slap in the face” to let West perform, given what he described as constant antisemitic attacks. Florida has one of the largest Jewish populations in the country, he wrote, and a stadium supported by taxpayer dollars should not “openly subsidise” an event headlined by an artist known for pushing “dangerous, hateful rhetoric.”
He listed his evidence. West had praised Nazis, called himself one, and sold white T-shirts with black swastikas on his website. Scott also pointed out that West had recently been barred from performing in the United Kingdom.
The museum press conference came after that. Joining Scott were Senator Ashley Moody, former Florida Governor Charlie Crist, Holocaust survivor Toni Rinde and Leo Terrell, who chairs the Justice Department’s Task Force to Combat Antisemitism, along with several local Jewish community leaders.
“If we don’t stand up and vocally reject the hate from Kanye West, if we don’t stop this concert, we’re telling everyone that antisemitism is okay in Florida, as long as you can make some money with it,” Scott said.
He argued that letting the shows go ahead would put a bigger target on the local Jewish community, and that local government needed to draw a hard line. “We should do everything in our power to keep public money and resources out of that kind of event,” he said.
The authority’s answer
The Tampa Sports Authority did not budge. In a statement, it said it recognised the concerns being raised. As a public agency, it said, it follows the principles of free speech in running its venue, “although we do not condone remarks or actions from any artists that are offensive and divisive.”
NME reported that the shows appeared set to go ahead as planned.
West’s record
The fight in Tampa follows a bruising spring for West in Europe. He opened his first European tour in 11 years in Istanbul, at Atatürk Olympic Stadium, where he claimed a crowd of 118,000. Dates in Switzerland, Poland, France and London were then cancelled.
London’s Wireless Festival had booked him for all three nights. Prime Minister Keir Starmer criticised the slot, several sponsors pulled out, the Home Office blocked West from entering the country, and the festival cancelled its 2026 event altogether. A handful of other dates, including one in Albania and two in the Netherlands, stayed on the calendar.
The antisemitism row dates to 2022, when a run of offensive social media posts got his Instagram and Twitter accounts suspended. His lawyer, talent agency and record label dropped him, as did Balenciaga and Adidas. In interviews he first refused to apologise and suggested Jewish people should “forgive Hitler”. He apologised in 2023. In early 2025 he took that apology back and declared himself “a Nazi”, then said on X “after further reflection” that he had “come to the realisation that I’m not a Nazi”. Days later, more swastika apparel showed up on his X page.
Several former employees have sued, alleging antisemitic behaviour. One said West claimed Jewish people were “working together to hold him back.”
Scott has made antisemitism a regular theme in Washington. He recently led Senate passage of a bipartisan resolution recognising Jewish American Heritage Month and often sponsors bills aimed at antisemitism on college campuses.
Sources
- "Florida Should Not Fund Antisemitism": Leaders Push To Pull The Plug On Kanye West's Tampa Concerts
- Florida Senator urges stadium in the state to cancel Kanye West concerts over "consistent anti-Semitic attacks"
