A group of students were recently told by the Administrators for the Ottawa Congress Center in Canada that they could not use the venue for host a Rock the Vote event headlined by Nas.
The students who organized the show believe that it was canceled because Nas is a hip hop artist, which the venue vehemently denies. According to Isaac Cockburn, vice president of student issues for the Carleton University Student’s Association, once they confirmed Nas was scheduled for the event, it was canceled.
Cockburn claimed that Peter Seguin, vice president of food and beverage for the Center, the Center had a general policy of banning hip hop acts. “He in fact said that he’d had over 200 requests for hip hop shows that
he’s turned down over the past couple of years,” said Cockburn. “He
said that it was an increased security risk and that it was a
vulnerability that the Congress Centre was not willing to take on.”
The Center’s vice president of client services reportedly claimed that the concert was not canceled because it was hip hop, but due to violent lyrics. There seemed to be some sort of disconnect however, as the president of the venue, Pat Kelly, stated that no concerts will be allowed at the venue anymore.
