YouTube/John Hinckley
John Hinckley Jr., the man who shot former President Ronald Reagan in an attempted assassination in 1981, claimed he is a “victim of cancel culture” on Wednesday after his upcoming music concert in Connecticut was canceled.
Hinckley, who was found not guilty by reason of insanity for the attack more than four decades ago, told the New York Post, “I think that’s fair to say: I’m a victim of cancel culture.”
He complained, “It keeps happening over and over again.”
Hinckley launched a music career in 2020, just a few years after he was released from psychiatric care and was given permission in 2022 to start touring the United States.
Hinckley’s concerts have been repeatedly canceled, however, due to backlash, violent threats, and security concerns.
“They book me and then the show gets announced and then the venue starts getting backlash,” said Hinckley to the Post. “The owners always cave, they cancel. It’s happened so many times it’s kinda what I expect… I don’t really get upset.”
According to the New York Post, Hinckley’s first concert was due to take place in Brooklyn in 2022, but ended up being canceled, despite tickets selling out.
Hinckley was institutionalized after he was found not guilty by reason of insanity for his attempted assassination of Reagan, which left the president severely wounded in hospital. The shooting also wounded three others: White House press secretary James Brady, Secret Service agent Tim McCarthy, and police officer Thomas Delahanty.
Brady suffered brain damage from the attack and died as a result of his injuries in 2014.
Hinckley, who had been stalking Hollywood star Jodie Foster, told the actress in a letter that he would assassinate Reagan in an attempt to “impress” her.
This month, after Hinckley’s latest concert was canceled, he revealed on social media that he was “looking for a place to open my own music venue.”
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