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Ke$ha Barred from Performing at South Street Seaport After Drake Riot

By Julie Shapiro | June 23, 2010 5:10pm | Updated on June 24, 2010 12:13pm

By Julie Shapiro

DNAinfo Reporter/Producer

FINANCIAL DISTRICT — Ke$ha will not be allowed to perform in the South Street Seaport this summer.

The owners of the Seaport said they pulled the plug on the pop singer’s free performance because the sponsor, Paper Magazine, did such a poor job of planning the free Drake/Hanson concert in the Seaport last week that ended in a riot.

Chaos erupted at the June 15 concert when more than twice as many Drake and Hanson fans as Paper Magazine expected packed onto Pier 17. The crowd grew angry when rapper Drake was late, and people started throwing bottles and chairs. The NYPD cancelled the concert and blamed the riot on Paper Magazine.

That concert was supposed to be the first in a three-part series in the Seaport sponsored by Paper, called “Sounds Like Paper.” Ke$ha was slated to perform in the second concert, though the date had not been announced.

That concert will not happen in the Seaport, said Lincoln Palsgrove, senior marketing manager at Seaport owner General Growth Properties.

“Seaport Management has…chosen to cancel any forthcoming concerts in conjunction with Paper Magazine,” Palsgrove wrote in a memo to Community Board 1 last week.

A spokeswoman for Paper Magazine said no final decision had been made and declined to comment further. Palsgrove heard that Paper Magazine might move the Ke$ha concert to an indoor venue somewhere else.  

Lower Manhattan residents were outraged by the unruly Drake concert, and Community Board 1 passed a resolution Tuesday night condemning the crowds and violence.

“You couldn’t move — you felt like you could be trampled,” said board Chairwoman Julie Menin, who was near the Seaport the night of the concert. “It was completely out of control…. The effect on the community was absolutely unacceptable.”

General Growth Properties will attend the community board’s Seaport/Civic Center Committee meeting on Tuesday, July 13, to discuss the incident and future precautions.

Ke$ha was supposed to perform a free concert in the Seaport this summer, but the owners of the Seaport canceled it.
Ke$ha was supposed to perform a free concert in the Seaport this summer, but the owners of the Seaport canceled it.
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AP Photo/Gus Ruelas