{"id":308462,"date":"2026-06-15T22:22:25","date_gmt":"2026-06-15T22:22:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/308462\/"},"modified":"2026-06-15T22:22:25","modified_gmt":"2026-06-15T22:22:25","slug":"florida-leaders-urge-kanye-west-concert-halt-raising-free-speech-and-taxpayer-questions-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/308462\/","title":{"rendered":"Florida leaders urge Kanye West concert halt, raising free speech and taxpayer questions"},"content":{"rendered":"

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. (CBS12) \u2014 A bipartisan group of Florida <\/a>leaders is urging officials to halt an upcoming Kanye West concert in Tampa, citing concerns over the rapper\u2019s history of antisemitic statements and the use of public resources to host the event.<\/p>\n

Standing at the Florida Holocaust Museum on Monday morning, U.S. Sen. Rick Scott<\/a> and Senator Ashley Moody<\/a> made it clear they don\u2019t think the concerts should happen, especially at a publicly owned stadium. The senators were joined by Senior Counsel to the Assistant Attorney General for Civil Rights in the United States Department of Justice Leo Terrell; and former Gov. Charlie Crist, a Democrat who is running for mayor of St. Petersburg.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen you have a taxpayer-funded body that is prioritizing hate and antisemitism, they have a lot of explaining to do,\u201d Moody said.<\/p>\n

West is scheduled to perform two shows at Raymond James Stadium<\/a> on June 26 and June 28, dates that have become the focus of mounting criticism.<\/p>\n

This is bigger than politics.<\/p>\n

Scott said, as he joined a bipartisan group that included both Republicans and Democrats, along with Jewish community leaders. The group\u2019s message was straightforward: public spaces should not be used to platform someone they say has promoted dangerous rhetoric.<\/p>\n

Scott has already taken his concerns directly to the Tampa Sports Authority<\/a>, which runs the stadium. In a letter issued on June 4<\/a>, he urged officials to reconsider hosting the shows, arguing that taxpayer money should not support an artist with a history of offensive comments.<\/p>\n

Opponents pointed to West\u2019s past behavior, including inflammatory public statements and controversial symbolism, as reasons the concerts should not move forward. While West issued a high-profile apology earlier this year, critics say it does not erase what has been said.<\/p>\n

Still, canceling the shows is not a simple decision. There is also the question of free speech and whether a public venue can, or should, block an artist based on their views.<\/p>\n

See also: ‘Time is up’: Florida takes legal action against TikTok over child safety concerns<\/a><\/p>\n

So far, the Tampa Sports Authority has not backed down. Officials say they recognize the concerns but also emphasize their responsibility to operate the venue under free speech principles, even if they do not support everything an artist says.<\/p>\n

For now, the concerts remain scheduled, but with the debate intensifying, it is clear the issue is far from settled.<\/p>\n

CBS12 News wants to know, “What should happen with Kanye West\u2019s upcoming Tampa shows?” VOTE BELOW. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. (CBS12) \u2014 A bipartisan group of Florida leaders is urging officials to halt an upcoming…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":308182,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[135,137,136],"class_list":["post-308462","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-tampa","tag-tampa","tag-tampa-headlines","tag-tampa-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/308462","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=308462"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/308462\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/308182"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=308462"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=308462"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=308462"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}