Asheville's Cherokee Center revisits booking policies after Bassnectar show cancellation

ASHEVILLE - The city owned Harrah's Cherokee Center is revisiting its venue booking policies following the outcry around a controversial October performance and its subsequent cancellation. But despite tweaks to its policies, as a publicly owned venue, the city faces stringent barriers to instituting greater restrictions on its rental spaces, said a city attorney.

At its Nov. 7 meeting, the Civic Center Commission, a nine-member board that reviews programming goals, long-range plans and encourages promoting of activities at the venue, adopted updates to the center's booking policies and procedures.

Most notably, it added a Right to Cancel policy, which states that the center "reserves the right to cancel events" if doing so "is in the best interest of public safety," both within the facility and in the public spaces outside it.

The "right to cancel" clause is already reflected within the standard facility lease agreement created with clients, but this update moves it earlier in the process, as often shows are announced before a lease is signed, and makes it more visible.

“This is a public venue. You can’t pick and choose events based on content,” Senior Assistant City Attorney Jannice Ashley told the commission. But if once a show is booked, and if there are clear public safety concerns, "that could be a reason to cancel the event."

Legally, it's an issue of free speech. Ashley referenced a case from the 1970s, in which a California city tried to ban Blue Öyster Cult, among other artists, from a city owned amphitheater on the basis of their being "hard rock." The bands were found to be protected under the First Amendment.

Chris Corl, the city's director of Community and Regional Entertainment Facilities, whose department oversees the Harrah's Cherokee Center, said it's a question that often comes up during election season.

More: EDM DJ Bassnectar show announced, canceled in Asheville on same day. What happened?

Why review?

Prompting the review was a two-day benefit concert featuring DJ and EDM star Bassnectar that was canceled Aug. 30, the same day it was announced.

Soon after posting, the announcement had racked up thousands of comments on Facebook, many incredulous and angry, citing allegations against Bassnectar, whose legal name is Lorin Ashton. The DJ was accused in a 2021 civil lawsuit of sexually abusing underage girls.

The lawsuit is still in the discovery phase, and there is no set trial date yet. No criminal charges have been filed.

This would have been one of his first shows back since Bassnectar announced he was stepping back from his music career in 2020. The city did not initiate the booking.

In a matter of hours, online comments escalated into threats against Harrah's Cherokee Center employees, and with consent from the event's promoter, it was ultimately canceled.

After the cancellation, a statement put out by the Bassnectar team condemned "cancel culture," which it called a "modern form of domestic terrorism."

Corl said as a public venue, if the building is open, the event can physically happen and the organizer can afford the rates, regardless of content, the show must go on. At the arena, rental rates for ticketed events run at $7,500 or 10% of net gross ticket receipts, whichever is greater. For the Thomas Wolfe Auditorium, ticketed events must pay $5,500, with the same stipulation.

If the promoter had not been supportive of the Bassnectar show's cancellation, Corl said the city would have either had to cancel and face a potential legal fight, or make it happen.

Within its current booking policy, the only exclusion named is a single sentence that states the venue "elects to refrain from contracting with promoters producing events which include any performing wild or exotic animals," which was made possible by a city ordinance passed by Asheville City Council.

The venue's official booking policy can be found at harrahscherokeecenterasheville.com/venues/rates-policies/.

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Sarah Honosky is the city government reporter for the Asheville Citizen Times, part of the USA TODAY Network. News Tips? Email shonosky@citizentimes.com or message on Twitter at @slhonosky. Please support local, daily journalism with a subscription to the Citizen Times.

This article originally appeared on Asheville Citizen Times: Asheville venue revisits booking policy after EDM show cancellation