The mayor of San Antonio has called for the cancelation of Kanye West’s concert at the city’s Alamodome, scheduled for the Fourth of July.
Weeks after Florida senator Rick Scott urged the Tampa Sports Authority to cancel West’s upcoming concerts at Raymond James Stadium, San Antonio Gina Ortiz Jones similarly lobbied against the rapper performing in the Texas city.
“I support canceling the @kanyewest concert,” Jones wrote on social media. “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 rapper’s recent tour has been plagued with cancelations due to West’s history of antisemitism. In April, Wireless Festival, the music festival set to take place in London’s Finsbury Park neighborhood, canceled this year’s event — which was to be headlined by West — after the country denied his visa. Shortly after, the rapper’s planned concert in Poland was also canceled in connection to his antisemitic comments and praising of Nazism.
In January, West published a full-page Wall Street Journal advertisement apologizing for years of antisemitic and other controversial comments. The rapper linked his outbursts to a long history of mental health struggles that left him in a “fractured state,” during which “I gravitated toward the most destructive symbol I could find, the swastika, and even sold T-shirts bearing it,” he said. “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.”
Despite his apology, West has continued to find opposition when scheduling his world tour, though he’s still managed to perform this year in countries like Turkey, the Netherlands, and Georgia, as well as Inglewood, California’s SoFi Stadium.
Despite both Scott’s and Ortiz Jones’ protestations, West is still scheduled to perform in Tampa Bay on June 26 and 28, as well on San Antonio on July 4. “Standing up to antisemitism is exactly what it takes to achieve a more perfect Union,” Ortiz Jones added.
