New York hotel cancels Reagan shooter Hinckley’s sold-out concert

A New York venue has canceled a sold-out concert by would-be presidential assassin John Hinckley Jr. after deciding hosting the event was too risky.

In a statement posted to social media on Wednesday, the Market Hotel, a concert hall in the Bushwick neighborhood of Brooklyn, cited “the safety of our vulnerable communities” for its decision to disinvite the man who shot President Reagan in March 1981 from performing on July 8.

“After a lot of serious consideration, we are canceling the scheduled event at Market Hotel with John Hinckley,” the statement reads in part. “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.”

While the statement added that the venue’s management believes ex-convicts “can recover,” it acknowledged backlash against the event and said it is “not worth a gamble” to proceed.

Hinckley, 67, has promoted his music online and touted an upcoming “redemption tour.” He responded to the cancellation by noting that Americans live in “very scary 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,” he told The New York Times.

He was 25 when he shot Reagan, claiming he did it to draw the attention of actress Jodi Foster. The attack also wounded Secret Service agent Timothy J. McCarthy, Washington policeman Thomas K. Delehanty and presidential press secretary James Brady, who died of his injuries in 2014.

A court found him not guilty for reasons of insanity and committed him to a D.C. psychiatric hospital.

Hinckley has been living in Virginia under restrictions since 2016, with an unconditional release taking effect on Wednesday after a judge declared him mentally stable.