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Joey Badass, Vince Staples, Mac Miller & More Shows Cancelled After Irving Plaza Shooting

In case you missed it, last week T.I’s concert at Irving Plaza, New York, was tragically cut short after a then-unknown gunman opened fire backstage, killing one person and injuring three – with rapper Troy Ave since being arrested for the crime. Today, Joey Badass announced via his Twitter that his show taking place at Irving Plaza this Thursday night had been cancelled. In a now deleted tweet, the rapper initially blamed the NYPD. While this would not have come as a surprise to many, considering NYPD Commissioner William Bratton’s comments about rappers as “basically thugs” the day after the shooting, more details have since followed.

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While initially many believed the cancellation to be as a result of an ongoing investigation at the venue, it soon came to light that a show was happening the night before – Train’s tribute to Led Zeppelin II. While many news outlets jumped at the opportunity to have a dig at anyone trying to stereotype and target hip-hop, which is honestly understandable in the wake of Bratton’s ridiculous statements. However, the venue has now cleared up any confusion.

Speaking to Rolling Stone, a venue spokesperson said, “In light of last week’s tragic event, we are acting with an overabundance of caution and coordinating a going forward strategy with the New York Police Department that may also include a curfew. Because these discussions with New York Police Department are ongoing, we will be postponing a few of our upcoming shows.” 

These shows included Mac Miller and Vince Staples at Irving on Friday and Saturday respectively, and a Guns N’ Roses cover band and Canadian rock duo Black Pistol Fire at Gramercy (Live Nation’s other venue), also Friday and Saturday respectively. So, it seems that there isn’t any real stereotyping going on here. Though we don’t know the extent of these “discussions”, we’ll have to wait and see what further comments are made about hip hop by the NYPD to be sure.

Image: Craveonline