NEW YORK: A concert by John Hinckley Jr., who shot and wounded President Ronald Reagan in 1981, has been canceled even as Hinckley was freed from federal court oversight, the New York City venue that had booked the performance announced.
The Market Hotel in Brooklyn cited “very real and worsening threats and hate” in its announcement on social media Wednesday that it was canceling the July 8 concert.
The now 67-year-old Hinckley was found not guilty by reason of insanity in the March 30, 1981 shooting of Reagan in Washington, D.C.
Reagan was seriously wounded in the assassination attempt, and his press secretary, James Brady, was permanently disabled.
Brady went on to campaign for gun-safety legislation until his death in 2014. The Brady Bill that passed in 1993 required a five-day waiting period for handgun purchases and background checks of prospective buyers, and the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence and The Brady Center to Prevent Gun Violence are named after Brady and his wife, Sarah.
Secret Service agent Timothy McCarthy and Washington police officer Thomas Delahanty were also wounded in the shooting, which was motivated by Hinckley’s obsession with the actor Jodie Foster.
Hinckley spent decades in a mental hospital before being released to live with his mother in 2016. He was freed from court oversight as of Wednesday, writing on Twitter, “After 41 years 2 months and 15 days, FREEDOM AT LAST!!!”
In recent years Hinckley has released songs on Spotify and posted videos of himself singing and playing a guitar on YouTube.
Several public performances had been planned following Hinckley’s release from court supervision, but venues in Chicago and in Hamden, Connecticut, had already canceled Hinckley appearances when the Market Hotel announced that the concert it had scheduled would not take place.
“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 Market Hotel said on Instagram. “We aren’t living in that kind of free country anymore, for better or for worse.”
Hinckley tweeted Thursday that his promoter was looking for another venue.
NYC guitar concert by Hinckley, who shot Reagan, is canceled
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NYC guitar concert by Hinckley, who shot Reagan, is canceled
- The Market Hotel in Brooklyn cited “very real and worsening threats and hate” in its announcement on social media
- The now 67-year-old Hinckley was found not guilty by reason of insanity in the March 30, 1981 shooting
Fans bid farewell to Japan’s only pandas
TOKYO: Panda lovers in Tokyo said goodbye on Sunday to a hugely popular pair of the bears that are set to return to China, leaving Japan without the beloved animals for the first time in half a century.
Loaned out as part of China’s “panda diplomacy” program, the distinctive black-and-white animals have symbolized friendship between Beijing and Tokyo since the normalization of diplomatic ties in 1972.
Some visitors at Ueno Zoological Gardens were left teary-eyed as they watched Japan’s only two pandas Lei Lei and Xiao Xiao munch on bamboo.
The animals are expected to leave for China on Tuesday following a souring of relations between Asia’s two largest economies.
“I feel like seeing pandas can help create a connection with China too, so in that sense I really would like pandas to come back to Japan again,” said Gen Takahashi, 39, a Tokyo resident who visited the zoo with his wife and their two-year-old daughter.
“Kids love pandas as well, so if we could see them with our own eyes in Japan, I’d definitely want to go.”
The pandas’ abrupt return was announced last month after Japan’s conservative premier Sanae Takaichi hinted Tokyo could intervene militarily in the event of any attack on Taiwan.
Her comment provoked the ire of Beijing, which regards the island as its own territory.
The 4,400 lucky winners of an online lottery took turns viewing the four-year-old twins at Ueno zoo while others gathered nearby, many sporting panda-themed shirts, bags and dolls to celebrate the moment.
Mayuko Sumida traveled several hours from the central Aichi region in the hope of seeing them despite not winning the lottery.
“Even though it’s so big, its movements are really funny-sometimes it even acts kind of like a person,” she said, adding that she was “totally hooked.”
“Japan’s going to be left with zero pandas. It feels kind of sad,” she said.
Their departure might not be politically motivated, but if pandas return to Japan in the future it would symbolize warming relations, said Masaki Ienaga, a professor at Tokyo Woman’s Christian University and expert in East Asian international relations.
“In the future...if there are intentions of improving bilateral ties on both sides, it’s possible that (the return of) pandas will be on the table,” he told AFP.
