Brooklyn Venue Cancels Planned John Hinckley Jr. Concert
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A Brooklyn venue set to host a concert by John Hinckley Jr., who attempted to assassinate former president Ronald Reagan in 1981, on Wednesday canceled the planned performance.
Hinckley was granted an unconditional release from all remaining court restrictions on June 1, and the release went into effect on Wednesday. Hinckley shot and injured Reagan and three others, including former press secretary James Brady, but was found not guilty by reason of insanity and admitted to a mental hospital. In recent years Hinckley has recorded songs and uploaded them to his YouTube channel, and was planning to do what he has called a “redemption tour” this summer.
Concert space Market Hotel announced the decision to cancel a performance by Hinckley scheduled for July 8 on Instagram and other social media outlets. The concert was already sold out.
The venue said the concert was initially booked through a “third-party promoter,” and that one reason for hosting the show was to show that “mental health issues and a criminal past” can be “atoned for.”
“There was a time when a place could host a thing like this, maybe a little offensive, and the reaction would be ‘it’s just a guy playing a show, who does it hurt — it’s a free country.’ We aren’t living in that kind of free country anymore, for better or for worse,” Market Hotel said in its statement, stressing that Hinckley’s scheduled performance would not “practically” harm anyone.
“It is not worth the gamble on the safety of our vulnerable communities to give a guy a microphone and a paycheck from his art who hasn’t had to earn it, who we don’t care about on an artistic level, and who upsets people in a dangerously radicalized, reactionary climate,” the venue said.
Hinckley told the New York Times on Wednesday that he understood the decision.
“I watch the news like everybody else—we’re living in very, very scary times, to be honest,” Hinckley told the Times. “I would have only gone on with the show if I was going to feel safe at the show and feel that the audience was going to be safe.”
The Ronald Reagan Presidential Foundation and Institute condemned Hinckley’s release in a statement earlier this month.
“The Reagan Foundation and Institute is both saddened and concerned that John Hinckley, Jr. will soon be unconditionally released and intends to pursue a music career for profit,” the statement said. “We strongly oppose his release into society where he apparently seeks to make a profit from his infamy.”
