With Ye’s two Tampa concerts just days away, Tampa Sports Authority Chair Patrick Manteiga says the shows will go on despite a mounting pressure campaign from elected officials, Jewish community advocates and residents urging the publicly supported venue to call off the performances.
Ye, formerly known as Kanye West, is scheduled to perform on June 26 and June 28 at Raymond James Stadium. The shows have drawn opposition over his history of antisemitic remarks, including praise for Adolf Hitler, calling himself a Nazi and selling merchandise featuring swastikas.
Ye has since publicly apologized for his antisemitic actions.
U.S. Sen. Rick Scott first called for canceling Ye’s Tampa concerts in a letter to the Tampa Sports Authority Board of Directors on June 4, and has started a Change.org petition that has reached 8,700 verified signatures as of Tuesday afternoon.
Scott later appeared at the Florida Holocaust Museum alongside U.S. Sen. Ashley Moody, St. Petersburg mayoral candidate Charlie Crist, Jewish community leaders and other officials calling for Tampa officials to block the performances.
“Kanye West’s concerts in Tampa, scheduled for June 26th and 28th, should NOT take place in Raymond James Stadium — a venue supported with public funds. There’s no place for antisemitism in Florida, especially at the expense of the taxpayer,” the petition states.
But Manteiga said Tuesday that this weekend’s concerts will not be canceled, and explained that doing so could expose the Tampa Sports Authority (and potentially taxpayers) to costly litigation.
He acknowledged the petition and calls from the community, but said thousands of fans have also “voted that they’re OK with this with their wallet because they’re going to write $200 checks or more to get a ticket for this event.”
“It would be very expensive to the community to cancel this because, you know, I assume there would be lawsuits to follow up. You can’t just cancel something because you don’t like what somebody said a year ago; that doesn’t really stand up to the obligations that public venues have in allowing people to use them,” Manteiga said.
The Tampa situation is not unique. Other Ye concerts are also facing pressure from government officials, including an upcoming show at the Alamodome in San Antonio. Manteiga explained that even without a contract already in place, it is difficult for venues to deny any artist the right to book them based on concerns about their speech.
“To not rent a venue that is public and that’s rentable based on the viewpoints of people is discriminatory and against First Amendment rights. Therefore, generally, the issue with renting the stadium will be, ‘Do you have the money to rent it? And do you have the capacity of filling up and selling seats for it?’ Those are really the standards here,” Manteiga said.
Manteiga said the controversy reflects a broader challenge for public venues that host large events involving polarizing figures, and that things could quickly become dicey if officials try to referee anybody’s speech.
“You know, one person’s hero is another person’s enemy. We’ve had Donald Trump at the stadium; I’m sure there are people who wouldn’t want him at the stadium. Down the road, we have Chris Brown. There might be women’s organizations who don’t want him at the stadium. Currently, Donald Trump doesn’t like Bruce Springsteen. Does that mean that (Gov. Ron) DeSantis says, ‘Well, we really don’t want Bruce Springsteen in Florida?’ Manteiga said.
“It just gets a little above my pay grade to try to restrict people’s use based on their speech.”
