San Antonio mayor calls for cancelation of Ye concert at Alamodome

San Antonio Mayor Gina Ortiz Jones is calling for the cancelation of controversial rapper Ye's Fourth of July concert at the Alamodome.

The San Antonio show is one of only five tour dates by the rapper formerly known as Kanye West in the United States. There are two shows in Tampa and two shows scheduled for Chicago.

"I support canceling the @kanyewest concert," Jones said on X. "Military City USA should not host someone with a record of hate speech and antisemitic comments in a city-funded facility like our Alamodome—not ever, and certainly not on July 4th, our Nation’s 250th birthday."

The Jewish Federation of San Antonio has also called for the show's cancelation citing "a sustained pattern of conduct that trivializes and glorifies the ideology responsible for the murder of six million Jews and millions of other victims of Nazi persecution."

The organization is asking the city to not allow the show at a taxpayer-supported facility.

"This request is not a call for censorship. We hold free speech among our most fundamental values, not despite our history, but because of it," the Jewish Federation of San Antonio said. "Ye has the same constitutional rights as every other American. He is free to speak, and private venues are free to host him. The question before the City is not whether Ye may perform somewhere. It is whether public resources and a publicly owned facility should be used to host and elevate someone whose public conduct has been marked by repeated hate speech."

Will Ye's San Antonio show get canceled?

Despite the opposition to the show, as of now it looks like it will continue.

Six of the city's council members said in a joint letter that they strongly condemn "antisemitism, hate, and any ideology that seeks to divide or intimidate members of our community."

The letter goes on to state that the condemnation can come "without resorting to censorship."

"The City does not endorse his rhetoric by allowing the use of a public venue, just as a public library does not endorse every book's viewpoint simply by carrying it," the letter reads.

The council members also pointed to the roughly $1.7 million in revenue the concert is projected to bring to the city.

The letter was signed by council members Sukh Kaur, Jalen McKee-Rodriguez, Teri Castillo, Marina Alderete Gavito, Misty Spears and Marc Whyte.

Sen. Rick Scott calls for the cancelation of Ye's shows in Tampa

The issue of using publicly owned and funded spaces for Ye's concerts is also a point of contention in Florida where he is scheduled to perform shows on Friday and Sunday at Tampa's Raymond James Stadium.

Sen. Rick Scott has called on the Tampa Sports Authority to cancel those shows as well.

What they're saying:

"Floridians DON’T deserve to see their tax dollars go to give an antisemite a megaphone," Scott said on X. "Kayne West’s concert at Raymond James Stadium is an INSULT to our Jewish Community and our taxpayers."

International cancelations

While the shows in the United States haven't been canceled, Ye has seen some international shows shut down.

In April, Ye was scheduled to headline the Wireless Festival in London. The show was eventually canceled after the United Kingdom government pulled the rapper's visa and banned him from entering the country.

Last month, Italian officials announced that two shows scheduled in the country for July had been canceled due to security reasons.

In January, the rapper took out a full-page ad in the Wall Street Journal titled "To Those I've Hurt" where he apologized for his past antisemitic comments and attributed them to his long battle with his mental health.

"In that fractured state, I gravitated toward the most destructive symbol I could find, the swastika," the rapper wrote. "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."

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