Rick Scott pushes to cancel Florida Ye shows

In The Know Rick Scott pushes to cancel Florida Ye shows Comments: by Sophie Brams - 06/26/26 2:29 PM ET Comments: Link copied by Sophie Brams - 06/26/26 2:29 PM ET Comments: Link copied

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A concert by controversial rapper Ye, formerly known as Kanye West, is expected go ahead as planned on Friday night in Tampa Bay despite a more than weeklong campaign from Sen. Rick Scott (R-Fla.) to cancel the upcoming shows.

He is currently scheduled to perform two shows at Raymond James Stadium this weekend, which Scott and several local community groups have been actively trying to shut down given the musician’s history of antisemitic messaging.

“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 OK in Florida — as long as you can make some money with it,” the Republican senator said during a press conference at the Florida Holocaust Museum earlier this month.

“We should do everything in our power to keep public money and resources out of that kind of event,” he added.

The stadium, home to the NFL franchise Tampa Bay Buccaneers, is funded through a mix of public money from the Tampa Sports Authority and private investment.

Scott said during a Monday appearance on The Hill’s sister network NewsNation that the area’s taxpayers, which include a large Jewish population, shouldn’t be forced to indirectly fund the performances.

“I don’t believe that we should allow our public institutions to bring somebody in who is supporting hatred,” he told host Katie Pavlich, pointing to the rapper’s past praise for Nazi dictator Adolf Hitler.

The Florida Republican started an online Change.org petition last week calling on the Tampa Sports Authority to call off the upcoming performances; the petition has since garnered more than 11,500 signatures.

The contract between the venue and concert promoter leaves the authority little room to act because of a provision that precludes concerts from being canceled because of public backlash over the artist’s past statements or anticipated speech, according to legal experts interviewed by Fox 13 News.

Ye has attempted to walk back his antisemitic remarks in recent months, taking out a full-page ad in The Wall Street Journal in January to apologize for his comments and previous embrace of the swastika.

He wrote that his struggle with mental health, including bipolar disorder, had caused him to “lose touch with reality.”

“I regret and am deeply mortified by my actions in that state, and am committed to accountability treatment, and meaningful change. It does not excuse what I did though. I am not a Nazi or an antisemite. I love Jewish people,” the artist said.

It wasn’t the first time the rapper apologized for making derogatory comments toward Jewish people, with some groups expressing skepticism that his efforts to make amends were sincere.

“The truest apology would be for him to not engage in antisemitic behavior in the future,” a spokesperson for the Anti-Defamation League told The New York Times in January.