The big cop-out: Organizers try to blame police after riot cancels their concert
June 17th, 2010 Posted in 1st Precinct and Transit District 2 in the NewsEditorials, Thursday, June 17th 2010, 4:00 AM
Source: NY Daily News
To the annals of fatuousness is added the following Twitter update sent out Tuesday night by Paper magazine, sponsor of the free South Street Seaport concert that erupted into a miniriot:
“It’s a total madhouse — in a good way!”
This is how you view thrown chairs and bottles and throngs of people perched dangerously on rooftops when you believe that you inhabit a space somewhere other than reality.
As one guiding spirit of Paper, Kim Hastreiter, once said of her kindred soul in command:
“My wonderful longtime partner David Hershkovits always says that we at Paper live in a parallel universe … and so we create our own little utopian business where conforming to standard operating procedures is not required.”
It was in this parallel universe that Paper staged a show whose leading acts were pop-rock group Hanson and hip-hop performer Aubrey Graham, aka Drake, projecting attendance at 8,000 but drawing 20,000 and having no clue as to crowd control.
The more the merrier. Hey, this isn’t Planet New York, where hurled objects can draw actual blood. This was Planet Paper, where the day after you lightheartedly tell readers:
“A few people acted up, but for the most part a cool-headed crowd left the pier peaceably. The good news is that no one was seriously hurt and we are looking forward to more fun at the seaport and beyond.”
Spare us.
Meanwhile, Hanson and Drake placed responsibility exactly where you might expect: not on Paper, not on hooligan fans but on the NYPD, which prevented serious injury by calling the whole thing off.
Drake: “Unfortunately, the show was canceled by the NYPD due to overcrowding, leaving me without the chance to give my fans a real show.”
Hanson: “It was sad for all of us that N.Y.’s Finest deemed it unsafe due to the crowd.”
As for standard operating procedure, there it is. When all else fails, blame the cops.
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