NEW YORK — The Brooklyn hotel that had planned to host a concert featuring John Hinckley Jr. canceled the event citing safety concerns.
Hinckley, who spent more than three decades in a mental hospital after trying to kill former President Ronald Reagan in 1981, had planned to make his first appearance in concert on July 8, as we previously reported.
Hinckley, now 67, shot Reagan and three others outside the Washington, D.C. Hilton on March 30, 1981. At the time, he had acute psychosis and said he carried out the attack to impress actress Jodie Foster, UPI reported.
Hinckley was released from the mental hospital in 2016, and had been living under restrictions in Virginia since then, but was granted an unconditional release that took effect Wednesday, The New York Times reported. Hinckley has been planning to use the release to launch his “redemption tour.”
Last week, Hinckley promoted the July 8 event on Twitter, saying he would be singing 17 original songs.
I will be singing 17 songs at my show in Brooklyn, NY. on July 8. All originals. pic.twitter.com/9GRn2Cr3Tb
— John Hinckley (@JohnHinckley20) June 3, 2022
In a statement posted to Instagram, the Market Hotel expressed disappointment that it had to cancel the show, saying, “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.”
In its post, the hotel said that security concerns ultimately forced it to cancel the show.
“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.”
In a phone interview with The New York Times, Hinkley said he was disappointed by the cancellation, but he did understand the venue’s concerns about safety.
“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.”
Hinckley told The Times that he is working with a promoter who is looking for a new venue in New York City. His other previously scheduled concerts in Chicago and Connecticut were similarly canceled.
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