As of Wednesday, John Hinckley is free to go anywhere he likes—just not Brooklyn’s Market Hotel, as the New York venue announced in a long rant on Instagram that it is canceling his debut concert.
Hinckley, who shot then-president Ronald Reagan 41 years ago and was found not guilty due to insanity, was released from all government restrictions on Wednesday, though his touring career may have to wait a few more weeks for freedom.
Hinckley spent two decades in a psychiatric facility and was released to live full-time with his mom in Virginia in 2016 under strict oversight. He had to, among other things, give supervisors all of his electronic devices and provide advance notice of his travel plans. In that time, however, he launched a burgeoning country music career, racking up more than 28,000 subscribers on YouTube. His musical dreams were set to come true at a sold-out concert on July 8 at the Market Hotel, the first in his “John Hinckley Redemption Tour.”
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But in a Wednesday Instagram post, the hotel denied Hinckley his big break and said it was canceling the concert after receiving “very real and worsening threats.” In the rambling post, the venue railed against cancel culture, mental health stigmatization and the supposedly changing nature of America... while also snubbing the budding musician as unimportant and someone who “we don’t care about on an artistic level.”
“Hosting provocative happenings for its own sake is valid, and should be part of any venue’s reason to exist. The tour also sends a message that mental health issues and a criminal past can be recovered from and atoned for, after serving one’s debt to society and getting real treatment,” the venue wrote.
“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,’” the post continued. “We aren’t living in that kind of free country anymore, for better or for worse.”
The Market Hotel said that Hinckley’s concert would not have posed any threat nor had any negative effect on America’s epidemic of violence, and the uproar it caused had to do with “the quote message it sends unquote.” The venue also conceded that its decision would be largely pointless.
“Make no mistake: canceling this concert will not deter future assassins,” the post declared.
Nevertheless, after pontificating about second chances and freedom of expression, the venue said it wasn’t worth putting their staff at risk simply to give a “sexagenarian with an acoustic guitar” a microphone and a paycheck for his art when “he hasn’t earned it.”
“If we were going to host an event for the principle, and potentially put others at risk in doing so, it shouldn’t be for some stunt booking,” the post said. “No offense to the artist.”
WFLA previously reported that two other concerts in Connecticut and Chicago for the “Redemption Tour” were also canned. Despite that, and the Market Hotel’s caustic rebuke of his musical skills, Hinckley will, if his lyrics are any indication, keep on moving forward with his aspirations. As his top song on Spotify “Never Ending Quest” says, “Tomorrow is another day, the best is yet to come.”
