Would-be assassin loses gig
Reagan’s shooter has tour stop in N.Y. canceled
The John Hinckley Jr. concert in New York, an oddity that was scheduled to feature the music of a man best known for trying to kill a U.S. president, was canceled Wednesday by the venue, which cited fears of a backlash in a “dangerously radicalized, reactionary climate.”
Hinckley, 67, who shot President Ronald Reagan in 1981 and was found not guilty by reason of insanity, has been living in Virginia under restrictions since 2016, but was granted an unconditional release that took effect Wednesday. Hinckley has been planning to use that release to mount what he has called a “redemption tour,” playing his original music at venues around the country.
But that plan has hit some roadblocks as venues have reneged on his scheduled concerts, including the Market Hotel, a concert hall in Brooklyn that posted a statement to social media Wednesday saying it was canceling Hinckley’s July 8 performance.
“It is not worth a 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 statement said.
“This is a sexagenarian with an acoustic guitar,”
the venue said. The statement went on to say that although they believed ex-cons and people with mental illnesses should be able to earn a chance to “fully rejoin society,” they made the decision after reflecting on “very real and worsening threats and hate facing our vulnerable communities.”