Kehlani’s New York SummerStage performance cancelled amid mayor’s safety concerns
Kehlani’s scheduled performance at the SummerStage in New York has been cancelled after Mayor Adams’ office cited “safety issues” with the concert.
The R&B singer was set to perform at Central Park on June 26th as part of the Pride with Kehlani event, but it will no longer go ahead. The cancellation comes after she was previously banned from playing at Cornell University’s Slope Day celebrations on May 7th due to her strong pro-Palestinian support.
First Deputy Mayor Randy Mastro wrote in a letter to the City Parks Foundation, organisers of SummerStage, on May 5th: “We write to advise you that we have security concerns about this event, given the controversy surrounding Kehlani’s scheduled performance at Cornell University (causing University officials to cancel the appearance), the security precautions needed for an event like this in Central Park, and the security demands throughout the City for other Pride events during this same period of time.”
The letter also stated that the mayor’s office planned to speak to the New York Police Department, and if they found “serious safety concerns”, then the office would reexamine the “status of the Foundation’s license.” Mastro gave the City Parks Foundation until close of play on May 6th to respond.
Heather Lubov, executive director of the City Parks Foundation, wrote back to Mastro on May 5th (via Rolling Stone): “The safety and security of our guests and artists is of the utmost importance and in light of these concerns, the concert has been cancelled.”
SummerStage and City Parks Foundation also released a statement, sharing they were “notified by the mayor’s office that they have concerns for security and safety issues regarding the June 26 Kehlani concert, produced and presented by Live Nation.”
They explained of their decision to cancel the show: “Those concerns are due to the controversy surrounding Cornell University’s decision to cancel Kehlani’s concert at the university, as well as security demands in Central Park and throughout the city for other pride events during that same time period.”
Kehlani has yet to respond to the cancellation of her New York show. However, following the Cornell University controversy, she shared: “I am being asked and called to clarify and make a statement yet again for the millionth time that I am not antisemitic nor anti-Jew.”
The singer continued: “I am anti-genocide, I am anti the actions of the Israeli government, I am anti an extermination of an entire people, I’m anti the bombing of innocent children, men [and] women… that’s what I’m anti.”
Last year, Kehlani’s music video for her song, ‘Next 2 U’, featured dancers waving Palestinian flags, and also kaffiyehs along with the message, ‘Long Live the Intifada’.
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