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

ASHEVILLE - A two-day benefit concert featuring DJ and EDM star Bassnectar was canceled the same day it was announced, originally scheduled for October at the city owned Harrah's Cherokee Center. A statement from the city said it will initiate reviews of its venue booking policies and procedures in light of the cancellation.

The Aug. 30 Facebook post by the Cherokee Center announcing "Bassnectar: FreakStyle," a Halloween weekend benefit with a slate of other artists, racked up more than 1,700 comments in its first seven hours. As the evening wore on, it was nearing 2,000. Many comments were 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 best time to delete this was right after you posted," said one comment under the Facebook post. "The second best time is now."

Why was the show canceled?

The cancellation was announced via Facebook at 11 p.m. the same night. After it was canceled, the original Facebook post was taken down.

"As a publicly-owned entertainment venue, we cannot deny access to the venue’s rental spaces to event performers, groups, or conventions based solely on the content of the event and/or performer," the city's statement said. "We value the support of our community members and fans, and we will work diligently with our publicly-appointed venue commission to review our booking policies and procedures."

Chris Corl, the city's director of Community and Regional Entertainment Facilities, whose department oversees the Harrah's Cherokee Center, elaborated in an Aug. 31 phone call with the Citizen Times.

Corl said they were aware of the allegations. He said the city did not initiate the booking, and that it was a "call-in" event. Bassnectar has played in Asheville before.

“It’s not our role as a publicly owned event venue to say who can and can’t use the space,” Corl said, as long as the building is open, it can physically happen and the event can pay all their bills. Regardless of content, "we still need to allow that event go on," and it becomes a matter of free speech.

However, "due to overwhelming community concern and conversations between the venue and the event organizer," and with the organizer's consent, the event was ultimately canceled.

Allegations against Bassnectar first surfaced in 2020, followed by a formal lawsuit in 2021. Bassnectar announced in July 2020 that he was stepping back from his career. The Asheville show was slated to be among his first performances since the allegations went public, second only to a sold out Las Vegas show in early October.

In a response to the original lawsuit, filed in July 2021 in Tennessee U.S. District Court, Bassnectar has denied all allegations of sexual abuse and demanded a jury trial. His attorneys have called claims "outrageous" and "without merit."

“Our client is under no obligation to put his life and career on hold because of false allegations," Stacey Ashby, an attorney for Bassnectar, said in an Aug. 31 comment to the Citizen Times.

“This civil litigation has already been going on for two years and could continue well into 2024. It was filed by three disgruntled former romantic partners of Bassnectar and is meritless ... We strongly believe that we will prevail at the end of this case."

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

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Jemma Steytler, who is involved in the Asheville music scene and said she frequents area shows, including those at Harrah's, said she was "shocked" when she first saw the show's announcement. After the sexual abuse allegations surfaced against Bassnectar, Steytler said it was like “a bunch of blocks getting knocked down, one after another,” driving local discussions around Asheville's own electronic music scene.

"It opened up a lot of doors for that conversation," she said, and people started paying more attention to who was given a platform.

Steytler said she was happy for the venue's decision to cancel.

“I’m definitely pleased that they actually took time to listen to people in the community," she said. "It makes you feel that you actually have a voice and that you’re heard, that it matters in the scene around here."

Policy changes?

Corl said they have limited legal capacity to create more stringent restrictions within its current policies and procedures, but that it will be explored by the Civic Center Commission, a nine-member board that reviews programming goals, long-range plans and encourages promoting of activities at the venue.

“We’re basically committing ourselves to bring it to the Civic (Center) Commission for their thoughts and input, to then have vetted by city legal. It’s hard to make it more strict, but there’s probably opportunities there if we feel like we need to," he said.

Aside from imminent changes around partially reopening Thomas Wolfe Auditorium, it hasn't been reviewed since 2021. 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: Bassnectar EDM show briefly scheduled for Asheville, canceled. Why?