A Brooklyn, New York, concert venue has cancelled an upcoming performance by former president Ronald Reagan’s would-be assassin John Hinckley Jr after the listing allegedly “antagonised” too many people, some of whom were described as “dangerous”.
In a social media post on Wednesday, the Market Hotel said the risk of violence was too much of a “gamble” to allow Hinckley Jr to take the stage. The 67-year-old was recently released from court supervision and had been living in a Virginia community since 2016, having spent the previous several decades in a hospital for mental illness.
While the venue disagreed with the idea Hinckley Jr should not be allowed to perform at all, they said they faced “some very real and worsening threats, and hate facing our vulnerable communities – our family here in nightlife”.
Fox News reported that the performance was due to take place on 8 July and that it had sold-out.
“We do believe that ex-cons and people living with mental illness can recover,” said the Market Hotel in their post. “But we are living in dangerous times”.
The music venue also said the threats were representative of a “dangerously radicalised, reactionary climate” and that Hinckley Jr’s performance “will not deter future assassins”. No further details were given about the alleged threats or who they came from.
In his 1982 trial for shooting of Mr Reagan in 1981, White House press secretary James Brady, Secret Service agent Timothy McCarthy and Washington Metropolitan Police officer Thomas Delahanty, Hinckley Jr was found not guilty by way of insanity. He was then committed to a psychiatric hospital in Washington, where he stayed until 2016.
In September 2021, he was found to be “mentally stable” by a judge and approved for unconditional release beginning in June 2022.
After complying with restrictions, which prohibited him from watching porn, drinking alcohol, and erasing his web browser history, Hinckley Jr was released on Wednesday.
Hinckley Jr’s interest in music and art rose to public prominence in 2020, when he was allowed to display music and artwork under his own name. He created a YouTube page in December 2020.
He told The New York Times this week that his Brooklyn show would have been his first live show and that although he was disappointed with the cancellation he understood why it happened.
“I watch the news like everybody else — we’re living in very, very scary times, to be honest,” Mr Hinckley Jr said. “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.”
