Tampa Holocaust Museum and FL NOW oppose Ye shows

After Sen. Rick Scott asked the Tampa Sports Authority to cancel Ye’s June 26 and 28 concerts at Raymond James Stadium, the Florida Holocaust Museum, the Tampa Jewish Federation and FL NOW publicly pushed back—arguing Ye’s past antisemitism and Nazism should n

On June 5, the Tampa Sports Authority said it would follow principles of free speech while operating Raymond James Stadium—even as pressure grows to stop Ye from taking the stage.

The timing is what has people bracing. Ye is set to perform in Tampa on June 26 and June 28, and in recent days community organizations have moved from criticism to action, issuing statements against the shows and making their own offers public.

It began with Sen. Rick Scott sending a letter last week asking the Tampa Sports Authority, which operates Raymond James Stadium, to cancel the concerts.

That request then spread across the Tampa Bay area. The Florida Holocaust Museum, the Tampa Jewish Federation and FL NOW all released statements against the rapper’s performances.

The museum’s message is blunt about what happens when a controversial figure is treated like a regular headliner. Eric Stillman, the museum’s president, said the apology Ye made earlier this year does not land as sincere with Jewish communities that say they still don’t see a genuine change.

Stillman described what is hardest for people to accept: “To say he was sorry and to say it was based on a manic episode and not to take any actions after that. to demonstrate that this was a sincere change of heart. is really what is so hard for the members of the Jewish community in Tampa. and throughout the region and throughout the world to take that as sincere.”.

In its Monday statement. the Florida Holocaust Museum said hosting someone with such a history of antisemitism sends a message that “anti-Jewish bigotry can be accepted or overlooked for the sake of something as simple as a concert.” The museum also announced it will offer free admission from June 26 through June 28 — the same days Ye will be in Tampa.

Stillman said opening the museum to a wider audience during those dates is meant to turn attention into education. not celebration. He said those who disagree with the concerts will have an opportunity “to further educate themselves about the Holocaust. ” and to show through their own actions “that they want to create something positive from this situation as opposed to what is happening.”.

For Stillman, the concern is about what the concerts communicate to the broader community: “someone who’s said very hateful and very hurtful remarks against the Jewish people is getting a very big platform here in our area,” he said.

The conflict is sharpened by Ye’s own history of words and imagery. In early 2025, Ye made statements on the social media platform X claiming to be a Nazi. He also alluded to Nazism in the lyrics and music video to a song called “Heil Hitler. ” and promoted the sale of a T-shirt stamped with a swastika through a Super Bowl ad.

Earlier this year, he apologized for those comments and actions in a Wall Street Journal advertisement, blaming his behavior on a bipolar disorder and a frontal lobe injury from an accident.

FL NOW’s vice president, Debbie Deland, argues that the past can’t be softened with explanations like that—and that free speech shouldn’t be used as a shield. Deland said what Ye promoted in the past was hate speech, and giving him a platform would “normalizes and glorifies” those statements.

“It’s been a consistent pattern of hate speech and Nazism,” Deland said. “You don’t just turn that over.”

Deland said Ye performing in Tampa sends the wrong message about what can and can’t be forgiven. She said it tells the community that antisemitism, hate speech, and Nazism are acceptable—and that they are not.

“We just don’t have any institutional credibility, because we’re normalizing and legitimizing his Nazi-glorifying statements,” Deland said.

The Tampa Sports Authority’s stance, for now, remains tied to public-venue principles. In its June 5 statement. it said: “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.”.

Still, the organizations challenging the concerts say the issue isn’t just what Ye says—it’s what a major stadium platform implies. Stillman said the concern extends beyond the local Jewish community and into how the rest of the country and the world will read Tampa Bay’s decision.

“Do we really want the Tampa Bay region to be known throughout the United States and throughout the world as the place that gave a stage to Kanye West when he has this long, proven history over years of making hateful and hurtful anti-Semitic attacks against the Jewish people?” Stillman said.

This is also the tour’s last remaining stop in North America. Tampa is the only remaining stop in the North American leg of the rapper’s tour following a pair of sold-out shows earlier this year in Los Angeles celebrating the release of his new album Bully.

As the concerts draw closer, the debate is tightening around the same question from multiple angles: whether an apology can outweigh a record of antisemitic and Nazi-related messaging—or whether the platform itself is the real consequence that communities in Tampa cannot ignore.

Ye Kanye West Tampa Raymond James Stadium Florida Holocaust Museum Tampa Jewish Federation FL NOW Rick Scott antisemitism Nazism free admission concerts