Florida Boycott List Including Jay Z, Rihanna & Kanye West Discredited by Reps

By: Taren Vaughan

The artists boycotting Florida list appeared to be growing for a moment as Jay Z, Kanye West, Rihanna, Alicia Keys and a number of other notable entertainers were said to be boycotting the state. Singer Stevie Wonder was the first to publicly come out and announce to his fans that he would no longer be performing in Florida anymore over the Trayvon Martin murder trial verdict. Shortly after Stevie made his announcement, Gospel group Mary Mary followed suit as they too are refusing to perform in Florida. With Stevie and Mary Mary now boycotting the state of Florida, people were wondering which entertainers would be next up to join the list. According to reports, Jay Z, Kanye West, Alicia Keys, Rihanna, Justin Timberlake and many more big names in the music industry were supposedly added to a list of artists who are boycotting the state of Florida. Turns out, representatives for a number of the entertainers on the list claim their clients were unaware of it and were not contacted about it, the Huffington Post reports:

American Urban Radio Networks White House correspondent April Ryan first reported the list — which includes heavyweights like Justin Timberlake, Jay Z, Kanye West, Alicia Keys, Madonna and more — on Monday and credited it to “sources close to the Stevie Wonder camp.” The Huffington Post linked to Ryan’s list and noted at the time that representatives for artists were being contacted. Late Monday night, HuffPost sources revealed that Rihanna was not involved, despite being named. MotherJones received word that the Rolling Stones — who also appear on the list — had never heard of such a campaign.

Additional representatives on Tuesday confirmed to HuffPost that other boldface names on the the list were not involved, but declined to identify their clients on the record. Denials reached a critical mass that began to shed serious doubt on the veracity of the list. On Tuesday, Ryan posted an update on her website in which she said that representatives of artists named “are uncomfortable being identified on that list.”