John Hinckley Jr., who attempted to assassinate Ronald Reagan, to play sold-out NY concert

John Hinckley Jr., who attempted to assassinate President Ronald Reagan in 1981, is now playing sold-out concerts.

WABC reports Hinckley is scheduled to perform July 8 at the Market Hotel in Brooklyn. Tickets were being sold for $20; the show is now sold out, according to the venue website.

Hinckley, 66, is a singer and guitarist who has been posting original songs and covers of hits by artists like Elvis Presley, Bob Dylan and Joni Mitchell on YouTube since 2020. He currently has more than 26,000 subscribers.

Hinckley was 25 when he shot and wounded the 40th U.S. president outside a Washington, D.C., hotel in an effort to reportedly impress actress Jodie Foster. The shooting paralyzed Reagan press secretary James Brady, who died in 2014, and also injured Secret Service agent Timothy McCarthy and Washington police officer Thomas Delahanty.

He was found not guilty of the assassination attempt by reason of insanity and sentenced to treatment. He was released from institutional psychiatric care in September 2016, and freed from oversight last year.

According to Stereogum, Hinckley has a history with music. He accused Devo of owing him royalties for the 1982 song “I Desire,” which used passages from a love poem Hinckley wrote to Foster. He also had to get permission from a court to begin releasing art and music under his own name in 2020, leading to his YouTube channel and recently booking a tour