Students at a Connecticut college canceled an planned concert by rapper Action Bronson Wednesday, saying his music and videos promote misogyny and hatred against gay and transsexual people.
The leaders of a student-run group at Trinity College in Hartford booked him as the headliner for Trinity’s Spring Weekend concert on April 30. The group said in a Facebook post that they had decided to cancel after an online petition and a conversation on campus raised “overwhelming concerns” about Bronson.
The petition on Change.org was signed by over 1,000 people. It listed several reasons why the concert should be canceled, including statistics showing that Trinity College was ranked the “17th most homophobic college by Princeton Review as of 2014” and “Trinity also has the 3rd highest rate of reported sexual assaults in the nation, according to the U.S. Department of Education.”
“We fully recognize that we will not receive a refund and that we are contractually bound to pay Action Bronson. However, we think it would be better for Trinity students, and the institution's reputation, for the concert to be cancelled regardless" the petition said.
The students had apologized for any harm caused by the decision to book Bronson.
Bronson’s appearance at George Washington University was canceled last month over similar concerns. The university cited a 2011 track called “Consensual Rape” as a reason for pulling him.
Bronson apologized to George Washington University for his promotion of violence against women.
The rapper hasn’t commented on the latest concert pull, but he has been promoting his new cooking show on the cable TV channel Viceland.
Trinity is a liberal arts college in Hartford and has around 2,000 students.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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