The mayor of San Antonio said she supported canceling a Fourth of July concert in the city by Ye, the rapper formerly known as Kanye West, after several of his shows were canceled in Europe amid protests over his antisemitic behavior.
San Antonio “should not host someone with a record of hate speech and antisemitic comments in a city-funded facility like our Alamodome,” the mayor, Gina Ortiz Jones, wrote on social media on Saturday, “not ever, and certainly not on July 4th, our Nation’s 250th birthday.”
She added that standing up to antisemitism was “exactly what it takes to achieve a more perfect union.”
A representative for Ye did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Sunday.
Ye’s stop at the Alamodome, which can hold more than 70,000 fans, is part of a tour promoting his new album, “Bully.” For years, he has faced backlash for antisemitic actions, including releasing a song titled “Heil Hitler” and selling merchandise featuring swastikas. “I’m going death con 3 On JEWISH PEOPLE,” he wrote on social media in 2022.
The rapper apologized for his actions in 2023, before recanting that apology in 2025. In January, he took out a full-page ad in The Wall Street Journal, again expressing regret for his behavior and attributing it to untreated bipolar disorder.
Many European officials seemed to find his latest apology insufficient.
Last month, Italian officials canceled Ye’s concert scheduled in July over security worries and concerns raised by local Jewish leaders. In April, the British government barred Ye from entering the country to play a series of concerts, pointing to his history of antisemitism. That same month, officials in Poland and a Swiss soccer club canceled concerts scheduled for June. The rapper called off a show in Marseille, France, after the country’s interior ministry said it was considering banning the event.
Ye did perform for nearly 40,000 fans this month in the Netherlands, where many people appeared less concerned about the rapper’s past actions than they were interested in his songs. “I’m here for the music, not for his point of view,” one concertgoer told The New York Times. In April, Ye performed two sold-out nights at SoFi Stadium, near Los Angeles.
The rapper has concerts scheduled this summer in Spain, Portugal and Albania, and in Chicago in September.
He is also scheduled to perform on June 26 and 29 at Raymond James Stadium in Tampa, Fla. The state’s senior senator, Rick Scott, has urged officials to reconsider.
In an open letter this month to the board of the Tampa Sports Authority, Scott said it was “troubling” that a stadium supported by tax dollars would allow an event by Ye, who he said was known for pushing “dangerous, hateful rhetoric.”
“I urge you to carefully review this decision, given the fact that taxpayer dollars are helping the show go on,” he said.
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