John Hinckley Jr (The Guy Who Tried to Assassinate Ronald Reagan in 1981) has a Concert in Brooklyn This Summer

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via: Consequence

John Hinckley Jr., the man who attempted to assassinate President Ronald Reagan in 1981, will play a concert in Brooklyn this summer.

In 2016, after spending 34 years under institutional psychiatric care, Hinckley was released into the custody of his mother. In the time since then, Hinckley has pursued an interest in music, releasing more than three dozen videos to YouTube, including originals and covers of Joni Mitchell, Bob Dylan and Elvis Presley. At one point, Hinckley even petitioned the court for permission to move to Los Angeles so that he could pursue a career in the music industry.

Now, Hinckley has announced his first-ever public gig: it'll take place on July 8th at Brooklyn's Market Hotel. What's more, he'll be joined by "special guests," according to a tweet posted by the concert's promoter, Scenic Presents.

I saw this news on Instagram this Saturday, and needless to say (even though I'm about to blog it), I was taken aback. This was not a story I expected to see!

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Thanks to I Love the 80s, I learned about Reagan's assassination attempt at an early age, but for whatever reason, the name John Hinckley Jr. never stuck with me like a successful assassin like your Sirhan Sirhans and Jack Rubys of the world. Before Saturday, I wouldn't have been able to identify Hinckley as Reagan's attempted killer. Outside of his love for Jodie Foster, I knew nothing about this guy, including his name.

41 years later, Hinckley is a relatively free man (these are the conditions of his 2016 release. h/t Wikipedia...no porn seems excessive!) and using his newfound freedom to pursue a career in the arts.

Hinckley's Youtube channel has over 26,000 subs and ten videos with over 20,000 views.

Attempted murder is almost always unfunny, but this wiki-bio that includes all his Youtube stats under his criminal record is an objectively hilarious juxtaposition (second straight blog I've peppered that into today).

Now Hinckley was found not guilty by reason of insanity, and after listening to him speak for two seconds, you can clearly see he's not all the way there. Based on the titles of his songs like "A Different Side of Me," "You and I are Free," and "Can't We Get Along," it's apparent that he's trying to put his Presidential assassination attempts in the rearview. Who could blame him?

In a way, this story is sort of beautiful. The man paid his debt to society (34 years in psychiatric care) and is trying to make the most of his life on the outside. Isn't that what the criminal justice system is supposed to be all about?

On the other hand, this dude tried to kill the President of the United States of America, but since he was in love with a lesbian, he gets to freely strum his guitar in a room with at least four clocks?

I mean, I have a soul, so of course, idfw Reagan, but even I'm having a hard time wrapping my head around this one. We have people rotting away for dime bags while Psycho Killer over here can run, run, run, run, run, run, run, all the way to Brooklyn's Market Hotel to perform live? That doesn't seem right. I hate people when they're not polite.

But I started this conversation, and I can't even finish it. Blog over. Weird story complete. Buy tickets if you want. Don't kill people.

P.S.

People abuse the term "break the internet," but if John's "special guest" is Jodie Foster, I genuinely think that would break the internet.