Two weeks ago, we published a timeline documenting the history of antisemitic incidents involving Ye, formerly known as Kanye West, and the real-world consequences that followed, showing how his public statements from 2022 through 2026 coincided with increases in antisemitic discourse online and incidents offline.
Now that Ye’s Tampa Bay concerts have taken place, this analysis turns to the online response surrounding those events. We analyzed 1,332 comments on seven social media posts about the concerts, with particular attention to a viral image of a fan holding a sign reading “Ye is not crazy” alongside a Star of David inside a prohibition symbol.
For this report, the comments were collected from five Instagram posts and two X posts. Six of the seven posts displayed the viral sign, while one Instagram post showed only images from the concert without the above photo. This allowed us to compare how online discussion differed when the sign was present versus when it was absent.
Each comment was classified using Claude Sonnet 5 as either support, reject, or neutral. Support comments endorsed the sign or defended Ye’s antisemitic rhetoric. Reject comments condemned the sign or criticized Ye’s antisemitic statements. Neutral comments focused on the concert or other topics without expressing a clear position on the sign or antisemitism.
As shown in the results graph above, the presence of the sign shaped the conversation. Posts that showed the sign photo generated substantially more discussion of antisemitism than the post that focused only on the concert. In the post where the sign photo was absent, all classified comments were neutral.
The strongest pattern appeared in posts focused solely on the sign. In those comment sections, support for the sign or related antisemitic views made up most classified comments.
Separately from the comment classification, we also identified examples of neo-Nazi and explicitly antisemitic users supporting Ye online and, in at least one case, separate from the sign incident, appearing at the Tampa concert. These examples were not part of the comment analysis but are included to illustrate how some extremists appear to support Ye specifically because of his antisemitic history.
Taken together, the Tampa concert reactions show how giving a platform to an artist with a documented history of antisemitism can extend the impact beyond the performance itself. The viral sign became a focal point of the online conversation, with many comments centering on Ye’s antisemitic history rather than the concerts themselves.
Additional Methodology
Support comments were defined as comments that endorsed the sign, supported Ye’s antisemitic rhetoric, agreed that “Ye is not crazy” or “Ye was right,” celebrated the crossed-out Star of David, or expressed antisemitic ideas more broadly. This category also included coded or indirect support when the meaning was clear from the comment and post context.
Reject comments were defined as comments that rejected the sentiment of the sign or condemned Ye’s antisemitism, the crossed-out Star of David, or antisemitism more generally. This included comments calling the sign hateful or antisemitic, defending Jewish people, or criticizing Ye’s antisemitic rhetoric.
Neutral comments were defined as comments that were unrelated to antisemitism or focused only on the concert, such as comments about the music, performance, venue, tickets, crowd, or general fan excitement, without clearly endorsing or condemning the sign or Ye’s antisemitic rhetoric.
Because the meaning of short social media comments can depend heavily on the post they appear under, the classification process used post-level context. For posts where the sign was the only image, generic approval such as “W,” “real,” “love this,” or similar positive reactions were treated as support for the sign. For posts where the sign appeared as one image among others, generic concert approval was treated as neutral unless the comment specifically referenced the sign, the first image, Jews, antisemitism, or Ye being “crazy.” For general concert posts, generic approval was also treated as neutral unless the comment clearly engaged with antisemitism.
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Online Reactions to Ye’s Tampa Concerts: The Impact of a Viral Sign
Two weeks ago, we published a timeline documenting the history of antisemitic incidents involving Ye, formerly known as Kanye West, and the real-world consequences that followed, showing how his public statements from 2022 through 2026 coincided with increases in antisemitic discourse online and incidents offline.
Now that Ye’s Tampa Bay concerts have taken place, this analysis turns to the online response surrounding those events. We analyzed 1,332 comments on seven social media posts about the concerts, with particular attention to a viral image of a fan holding a sign reading “Ye is not crazy” alongside a Star of David inside a prohibition symbol.
For this report, the comments were collected from five Instagram posts and two X posts. Six of the seven posts displayed the viral sign, while one Instagram post showed only images from the concert without the above photo. This allowed us to compare how online discussion differed when the sign was present versus when it was absent.
Each comment was classified using Claude Sonnet 5 as either support, reject, or neutral. Support comments endorsed the sign or defended Ye’s antisemitic rhetoric. Reject comments condemned the sign or criticized Ye’s antisemitic statements. Neutral comments focused on the concert or other topics without expressing a clear position on the sign or antisemitism.
As shown in the results graph above, the presence of the sign shaped the conversation. Posts that showed the sign photo generated substantially more discussion of antisemitism than the post that focused only on the concert. In the post where the sign photo was absent, all classified comments were neutral.
The strongest pattern appeared in posts focused solely on the sign. In those comment sections, support for the sign or related antisemitic views made up most classified comments.
Separately from the comment classification, we also identified examples of neo-Nazi and explicitly antisemitic users supporting Ye online and, in at least one case, separate from the sign incident, appearing at the Tampa concert. These examples were not part of the comment analysis but are included to illustrate how some extremists appear to support Ye specifically because of his antisemitic history.
Taken together, the Tampa concert reactions show how giving a platform to an artist with a documented history of antisemitism can extend the impact beyond the performance itself. The viral sign became a focal point of the online conversation, with many comments centering on Ye’s antisemitic history rather than the concerts themselves.
Additional Methodology
Support comments were defined as comments that endorsed the sign, supported Ye’s antisemitic rhetoric, agreed that “Ye is not crazy” or “Ye was right,” celebrated the crossed-out Star of David, or expressed antisemitic ideas more broadly. This category also included coded or indirect support when the meaning was clear from the comment and post context.
Reject comments were defined as comments that rejected the sentiment of the sign or condemned Ye’s antisemitism, the crossed-out Star of David, or antisemitism more generally. This included comments calling the sign hateful or antisemitic, defending Jewish people, or criticizing Ye’s antisemitic rhetoric.
Neutral comments were defined as comments that were unrelated to antisemitism or focused only on the concert, such as comments about the music, performance, venue, tickets, crowd, or general fan excitement, without clearly endorsing or condemning the sign or Ye’s antisemitic rhetoric.
Because the meaning of short social media comments can depend heavily on the post they appear under, the classification process used post-level context. For posts where the sign was the only image, generic approval such as “W,” “real,” “love this,” or similar positive reactions were treated as support for the sign. For posts where the sign appeared as one image among others, generic concert approval was treated as neutral unless the comment specifically referenced the sign, the first image, Jews, antisemitism, or Ye being “crazy.” For general concert posts, generic approval was also treated as neutral unless the comment clearly engaged with antisemitism.
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