Police Shut Down Hologram Concert Of Rapper Because They Don't Like His Lyrics; Pretty Clear First Amendment Problem
from the that's-not-how-this-works dept
The Chicago Tribune has a disturbing story about how the police in Hammond Indiana shut down an entire music festival because they didn't like a particular rapper, Chief Keef, who appeared via hologram (supposedly to avoid arrest for some outstanding warrants in the mid-west). The police don't even try to come up with some other bogus reason. They flat out admit that they didn't want Keef to perform and thus they shut it down:Hammond police Cmdr. Pat Vicari said the promoters were warned the concert would be shut down if Chief Keef performed.Why? Because apparently politicians don't like his lyrics:
"We spoke to the promoter several times, and they assured us (Chief Keef) would not be performing," Vicari said. "Later, an officer working the show realized it was being streamed on one of the hip-hop sites, and promoters were warned again they would be shut down.”
Thomas M. McDermott Jr., the mayor of Hammond, said in an interview that his office became aware of the surprise performance, which was also streamed live online, through social media. All of the Craze Fest acts — which included Riff Raff, Lil Bibby and Tink — had been previously vetted because the event was held at a public park, he said.The reference to Mayor Emanuel was to Chicago mayor Rahm Emanuel blocking a similar concert in Chicago a week earlier, when Emanuel's office declared Keef "an unacceptable role model." Because, apparently, in Chicago, you're only allowed to be a role model if the mayor's office gives its stamp of approval:
“I know nothing about Chief Keef,” Mayor McDermott, 46, said. “All I’d heard was he has a lot of songs about gangs and shooting people — a history that’s anti-cop, pro-gang and pro-drug use. He’s been basically outlawed in Chicago, and we’re not going to let you circumvent Mayor Emanuel by going next door.”
Last weekend, a Chicago theater called off a similar show after representatives for Mayor Rahm Emanuel’s office deemed Chief Keef “an unacceptable role model,” whose music “promotes violence” and whose presence via hologram “posed a significant public safety risk.”Here's the really crazy part, though. The concert itself was to protest violence, and was called a "Stop the Killing" benefit concert, in an effort to raise money for the families of two people that Keef knew who were recently killed in a shooting.
As Eugene Volokh notes, it's difficult to see how this is anything but a First Amendment violation.
The government may impose reasonable content-neutral restrictions on speech in such venues, such as sound level restrictions, and may charge money for the use of the venues. But the government may not restrict speech because of its viewpoint, or the viewpoint that the speakers had expressed elsewhere, which seems to have happened hereHe further points out that the "public safety" risk claims are not an acceptable reason to shut down the event either, pointing to Terminiello v. Chicago. Even beyond that, there were no reports of any actual threats or public safety issues at the event itself. And yes, Keef may have outstanding warrants, which would make it perfectly reasonable to have him arrested if he did show up, it still doesn't explain why the concert was shut down.
Unless I’m missing something here, then, this is a pretty clear First Amendment violation on the part of the City of Hammond. And it seems to me that, in America, performances by controversial singers can’t be “basically outlawed,” even “in Chicago.It will be interesting to see if Keef does anything about this. The hologram appearance was coordinated by Hologram USA, the company owned by wacky publicity hound billionaire Alki David, whose antics we've discussed in relation to his Aereo-clone streaming TV service FilmOn (not surprisingly, the concert was also being streamed live via... FilmOn). David immediately lashed out at the shutting down of the concert and rightly called out the First Amendment violation:
"Shame on the mayor and police chief of Hammond for shutting down a voice that can create positive change in a community in desperate need. And for taking away money that could have gone to help the victims' families," David said in a statement. "This was a legal event and there was no justification to shut it down besides your glaring disregard for the first amendment right to free speech.Some have argued that Keef intentionally uses conflicts like this to get more publicity to market himself -- and even if it's true that doesn't matter. Even if Keef is truly a horrible person in every way, the First Amendment isn't supposed to only protect the speech of "good people." It's supposed to protect everyone. And yet it's amazing how quickly some in power forget this.
Thank you for reading this Techdirt post. With so many things competing for everyone’s attention these days, we really appreciate you giving us your time. We work hard every day to put quality content out there for our community.
Techdirt is one of the few remaining truly independent media outlets. We do not have a giant corporation behind us, and we rely heavily on our community to support us, in an age when advertisers are increasingly uninterested in sponsoring small, independent sites — especially a site like ours that is unwilling to pull punches in its reporting and analysis.
While other websites have resorted to paywalls, registration requirements, and increasingly annoying/intrusive advertising, we have always kept Techdirt open and available to anyone. But in order to continue doing so, we need your support. We offer a variety of ways for our readers to support us, from direct donations to special subscriptions and cool merchandise — and every little bit helps. Thank you.
–The Techdirt Team
Filed Under: alki david, chicago, chief keef, first amendment, free speech, hammond, indiana, pat vicari
Reader Comments
Subscribe: RSS
View by: Time | Thread
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re:
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Re:
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Re:
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
What about that disgusting "rock and roll"?
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: What about that disgusting "rock and roll"?
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: What about that disgusting "rock and roll"?
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: What about that disgusting "rock and roll"?
——Newport v Fact Concerts (1981)
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re:
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Re:
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Re:
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Living in the future is disappointingly lame.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re:
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Reson for shutdown
It's obvious! Keef had outstanding warrants and isn't allowed to be in that area. By displaying Keef the hologram projector was clearly commiting a crime and had to be arrested. Without that machine the concert couldn't go on so it was shut down.
Just wait for the case.. Hammond vs a hologram projector. Ok that sounded stranger/funnier in my head but while writing I remembered US vs a house or a box of toys. Strange world, we can create light that can be touched and what we do is sueing objects.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Reson for shutdown
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Reson for shutdown
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
I would actually argue it's more important to protect the "bad people". It's meaningless if if it doesn't: why would uncontroversial speech need protection?
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
The problem is that people in charge of enforcing the law
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re:
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Cartmanbrah
Please correct this article a.s.a.p. adding the mention and link to the video.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
This white hacker "SNOW"den is allowed to appear everywhere but tupac's hologram is arrested because he is a black hologram?
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
The only way to make people this bad think is to make their misdeeds hurt their own circumstances. It wouldn't need to be imposed very often by the courts to have a rapidly chilling effect on the nutters.
Then after this proves effective it could be extended to FOIA blockers
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re:
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Instead, they moved to Indiana, learning nothing about the state lead by one Governor Mike Pence.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Not Hologram: Pepper's Ghost. It's done with mirrors.
The technology is formally called 'Pepper's Ghost and is performed with light and mirrors. It was first formally performed in 1862 and has a history dating back to the 1500s.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pepper's_ghost
vs
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Holography
No, it's not OK to mislead people with wrong terminology. Research your subject.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Not Hologram: Pepper's Ghost. It's done with mirrors.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
fuzzy area
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: fuzzy area
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: fuzzy area
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: fuzzy area
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Excuse me Mr. McDermott, but who the hell do you think you are in "not letting" anyone exercise their rights just because you and your Chicago-mayor-accomplice don't like this rapper or his message. You both should be removed from your elected positions immediately as you are not fit to reside in such a capacity not to mention that you've set a dangerous precedent in disregarding such a right under the guise of public safety.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re:
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
It was a charity performance.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: It was a charity performance.
——Justice Scalia, for the court, RAV v St Paul (1992)
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Re: It was a charity performance.
A burning cross is a symbol of hatred of and oppression of a racial minority.
I'm pretty sure, even without knowing a single line of Chief Keef's lyrics that he's not preaching hatred and intolerance of a racial minority.
More likely he's preaching hatred and intolerance of an oppressive authoritarian regime that is supposed to be in the service of the people. Given they keep gunning down Americans with impunity, it pisses me off too.
And I'm not going to get into nuances of a situation where This burning cross, normally a symbol of racial intolerance, represents $70 per second it remains alight to be donated to the local department of education, up to 4,000,000 towards the effort of elevating our impoverished children towards a better future.
Though it would make for an interesting discussion.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Re: Re: It was a charity performance.
——Justice Thomas, dissenting in Virginia v Black (2003)
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Re: Re: Re: It was a charity performance.
And plenty of people still find the pentacle offensive because to them it's Satanic, rather than neo-pagan.
Numerous dissenting opinions we've seen in recent times have shattered the moral authority that might once have come from a SCOTUS Jurist. You might as well be quoting an SBC television evangelist or a game show host.
Anyhow, my point was to presume for sake of that argument that a symbol was universally recognized and respected for a singular meaning.
Now that we're raising the veracity of symbols, sacred or profane, I think the contemporary controversy over the modern displays of the Second Confederate Navy Jack (*) has demonstrated that even a prevailing symbol of hate speech can and will be tolerated, and its grotesquery denied when there is enough money, power or popularity behind it.
It's a no-win situation. Absolute protection of freedom of speech will be used to protect hate speech and hate symbols. Protections from hate speech or symbols or offensive material (e.g. pornography, mutilation images, goatse, etc.) are going to be used to chill civil rights movements in those counties that don't like certain minorities, and yet, religious institutions will still be allowed to exercise hate-based practices and post hate speech, on the grounds that it is a religious institution.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]