Los Angeles County is Taken to Task

Los Angeles County is Taken to Task
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Oct. 1 2007

I have written several stories about concerts featuring rap artists getting cancelled by venue management due to "offensive music," "security hazards," and other prejudice-driven reasons. I now have the pleasure of writing about one of these firms being taken to task.

Los Angeles County has been hit with an $800,000 lawsuit by Imagine Media Group LLC, a concert promotions firm in San Diego. The Imagine Media-promoted Funkmaster Flex Car & Bike Show was supposed to take place this past August at the L.A. County Fair Association-operated Pomona Fairplex. Along with the car and bike expo, the show was to feature performances, most likely by rap artists like the ones Funkmaster Flex plays in the clubs and on his radio show on New York City's Hot 97.

The lawsuit claims that the concert was cancelled by L.A. County Fair Association COO James Henwood because he finds rap music "offensive." He along with VP of Sales and Marketing Dwight Richards are said to have cancelled the concert "under the guise of unjustifiable public safety grounds."

Imagine Media lost over $800,000 because of the cancellation and are suing on the grounds of First and Fourteenth Amendment violations.

Allow me to explain why this case could be huge if it is taken to court and use the United States Constitution to explain why.

The first amendment prohibits, among other things, laws that infringe the freedom of speech and limit the right to assemble peaceably. I am in agreement that the cancellation of the concert and contractual agreement did violate these rights.

The fourteenth amendment makes the stakes in this case even higher. The Constitution says that "All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the State wherein they reside. No State shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States; nor shall any State deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws."

Imagine Media is asserting that their civil rights where violated. The L.A. County Fair Association's decision to cancel the show was made in the same prejudiced spirit as all other organizations canceling concerts with rap artists involved. Equal rights and equal protection should apply even to the purveyors of "offensive" music.

If justice is served in this case, then it should send a message to all the other venues who have reneged on a contractual agreement on the grounds of baseless blanket critiques of hip-hop music. I hope to be the bearer of a good news-filled update in a future column.

Sources: Allhiphop.com, United States Constitution