In the midst of major budget discussions, economic development deals and utility rate hikes, this week San Antonio city leaders once again found themselves scrambling to react to a broader cultural debate that landed squarely at their feet.
The last-minute scheduling of a Ye, or Kanye West, concert caught the attention of an outspoken mayor and rankled Jewish leaders who consider his track record of antisemitic comments dangerous.
Now four days later, the San Antonio City Council has been tested by debates weighing morals vs. money, a hard-to-pass-up-on lucrative Alamodome contract, a last-minute ban on swastika merch and a mortifying moment for one of its most spotlight-averse members.
Before this week, some of the council’s 10 members said they weren’t even up-to-speed on West’s history of public comments.
Conservative Councilwoman Misty Spears (D9) had already accepted free tickets to the show before issuing a mortified apology from her trip to Israel days later.
“Anyone who knows Councilwoman Spears would be able to guess she’s not a Kanye fan,” spokeswoman Megan Coleman said Wednesday.
By the time the dust seemingly settled, most of the city leaders had denounced West’s speech — but a majority had signaled they wouldn’t seek to cancel a show with high earning potential for the city.
Now the mayor wants more say over how such events are scheduled in the first place, while others fear a censorship fight with wide-ranging implications.
“When the government begins making decisions about which artists, speakers or events are acceptable based on ideology or viewpoint, those tools can later be used in ways that harm other communities and causes,” progressive Councilman Jalen McKee-Rodriguez (D2) wrote on social media.
How it startedWhen West’s antisemitic remarks caused shows to fall through in other cities, his team inked a June 2 contract with the Alamodome as part of an expanded appearance schedule rolled out last week.
Almost immediately after the event was publicized, it caught the attention of Mayor Gina Ortiz Jones, whose Saturday afternoon social media post calling to cancel it landed her in national headlines before many knew how that would work — or if it was even legal.
“I was not tracking the concert, frankly, this is an administrative thing, this is handled by the staff that handles the booking of the concerts [at the Alamodome],” Jones said on TPR’s The Source on Monday. “… [But] if we wanted to cancel this, the council would have to take a public action asking the city manager to do just that, so a public vote.”
To Jones, the debate was inevitable.
The United Kingdom canceled West’s travel permits earlier this year, and an entire music festival was scrapped when he couldn’t perform.
Italy barred his concerts after pushback from Jewish leaders who would eventually lead the opposition in San Antonio as well.
In the upcoming show in Tampa, even U.S. Sen. Rick Scott (R-Florida) has gotten involved to try to stop it.
But as with the wave of César E. Chávez cancellations that rocked San Antonio in March, or the race to mirror Dallas’ move to November elections that Jones pushed in December, city leaders were left scrambling to understand their next steps.
West’s team has wised up about the backlash, according to local media reports in Florida, adding contract language to his Tampa show barring cancellation based on his past public statements or political viewpoints.
The 20-page Alamodome contract doesn’t appear to include such language, but Jones still wasn’t able to muster the support for her cancel effort from a council that’s long been drawn to culture wars.
Picking their battlesSan Antonio City Council once famously tried to ban Chick-fil-A from the San Antonio International Airport, and leaders turned up their noses at the idea of competing for the 2020 Republican National Convention.
But today’s oft-combative council is full of new members, some of whom publicly likened cancelling the Kanye concert to censorship.
“We should be honest that decisions made in moments of urgency can set long-term precedents,” McKee-Rodriguez wrote.
Council members also noted that the event “matters economically” to a city with big financial challenges.
The earliest draft of their upcoming budget calls for tax increases and major cuts — from the book festival to the botanical garden — to account for a $153 million deficit.
The Alamodome contract lists a $400,000 licensing fee, consignment on merchandise sales, parking fees and more — much of which would end up in city coffers.
Overall, the concert has a projected $1.7 million economic impact, according to letter six council members published Tuesday.
That’s as hotel reservations are already up 22% since the concert was announced.
Growing backlashAs West is welcomed by fewer and fewer venues, San Antonio is a just replacement for sets canceled elsewhere.
It’s also a city with one of the lowest advance ticket sale ratings in the country, which has long discouraged big acts from including San Antonio on their tours to begin with.
The contract with West, now known as Ye, lists rights to a possible second show on July 5.
As of Wednesday afternoon, the first show had not sold out, however, and neither West’s team nor the city responded to a request for comment on the possibility of a second.
Jones conceded Tuesday that she doesn’t have the votes to cancel the event. But she says the whirlwind press conference, council panic and media blitz hasn’t been for nothing.
The Alamodome contract has been amended to prohibit West from singing his “Heil Hitler” song and selling swastika merchandise, Jones said in an interview with KSAT Tuesday night.
The experience also opens the door for the city to do something different in the future, she said, when events at a publicly-owned facility could cause the city “reputational harm.”
“What this has raised is the need for a process … that helps bring these kinds of potential issues to the council’s at least awareness, when there may be some kind of potential public backlash,” Jones said.