Mr Hinckley, 67, who shot and killed President Ronald Reagan in 1981 and pleaded not guilty to felony criminal mischief, has been living in Virginia since 2016 but was granted parole on Wednesday. Mr. Hinckley planned to use this release to organize what he called an “acquisition tour,” playing his original music at venues across the country. But the plan has come to a halt as venues have rejected his planned concerts, including the Market Hotel, a concert hall in Brooklyn’s Bushwick neighborhood, which posted a statement on social media on Wednesday saying it was canceling Mr’s show. Hinckley on July 8th. “It is not worth betting on the safety of our vulnerable communities to give a man a microphone and a salary from his art that he did not have to earn, that we are not interested in artistically and that upsets. “people in a dangerously radical, reactionary climate,” the statement said. The site seemed to announce the decision with regret, writing in the statement that “this guy does not hurt anyone in any practical way”. “He is a sexologist with an acoustic guitar,” the site said. The statement went on to say that although they believed that formerly disadvantaged and mentally ill people should be able to gain the opportunity to “fully integrate into society”, they made the decision after considering “very real and worsening threats and hatred faced by our vulnerable communities. “ In 2020, a federal judge in Washington ruled that Mr. Hinckley could start publicly displaying his writing, artwork, and music under his own name after his treatment team told the court he was forced to resign. to publish his music on the internet anonymously. Since then, Mr. Hinckley has uploaded videos of his original songs and covers to his YouTube channel, which has more than 28,000 subscribers. In a telephone interview Wednesday, Mr Hinckley said the tour would be the first time he had played his original songs live and that he was disappointed with the cancellation, although he said he understood the area’s security concerns. Mr. Hinckley used YouTube videos to draw attention to his music, many of which he said were original songs. Credit … via YouTube “I watch the news like everyone else – we live in very, very scary times, to be honest,” Hinckley said. “I would only continue with the show if I was going to feel safe on the show and feel that the audience would be safe.” Mr Hinckley’s lawyer, Barry Levine, wrote in an email that there were “escalating threats” that could put Mr Hinckley and those present in danger and that he agreed with the decision to cancel. But Mr Hinckley said a supporter he was working with was looking for a new location in New York. Conn.’S Chicago and Hamden venues, which had previously scheduled performances by Mr. Hinckley, also canceled the concerts. In 1981, after seeing the movie “Taxi Driver” in which the main character plans to assassinate a presidential candidate, Mr. Hinckley said he killed his plot to assassinate Mr. Reagan in an attempt to impress Jodie Foster. . He waited outside the Washington Hilton on March 30, 1981, where Mr. Reagan was delivering a speech, and fired six shots as the president left the hotel. The shots hit the president. James S. Brady, White House Press Secretary. Timothy J. McCarthy, Secret Service Agent. and Thomas K. Delahanty, Police Officer. Mr Brady died of his injuries in 2014. Mr. Hinckley was sent to a psychiatric hospital in Washington for more than two decades. The judge set a final release date of June 15, without any restrictions, after finding that Mr. Hinckley had met many conditions, including mental stability. The Ronald Reagan Presidential Foundation and Institute opposed Mr Hinckley’s unconditional release, saying in a statement that the organization “regretted and was concerned that John Hinckley Jr. would soon be released from prison and would soon be released without a break. “ Patti Davis, one of Reagan’s daughters, has opposed the lifting of restrictions on Mr Hinckley, writing in an article in the Washington Post last year that she feared “the man holding the gun and almost fulfilling his desire to kill him” president. he could decide to contact me. “ But Mr Hinckley’s supporters see an important message in society that allows him to make a public appearance after decades of recovery. “This is what people need to see, which is the ability to restore,” said Andreas Xirtus, a podcaster from California who supports Hinckley’s music. “Somehow his spirit is still there and he has a positive impact on the music.” Mr Levine said in the email that his client hoped the public understood that he had changed since the 1980s. “Although he knows his name is associated with an act of violence,” Levine wrote, “he hopes that people of good will will understand that when he committed these acts he was devastated by a mental illness – a condition from which he no longer suffers.” »
