The Essence Festival is catching heat on social media for shutting down a New Orleans bookstore’s event promoting Black authors, nola.com reports.
The festival filed a petition on June 29 in Civil District Court and issued a Temporary Restraining Order demanding Baldwin and Co., as well as event promoter Lit Diaries LLC, cease-and-desist using its trademark to promote a June 30 event at the Black-owned bookstore, WWL-TV reports.
The Essence Music Festival ran from June 29 to July 3 in New Orleans. Organizers claim Baldwin and Co. used the Essence name illegally and violated the city’s “clean zone” laws, reports The Associated Press. A Clean Zone is an area around the festival where other events and vendors are banned unless the city approves.
Civil District Judge Richard Perque sided with the petitioners and signed the restraining order, The Times-Picayune/The New Orleans Advocate reports.
On Friday morning, an Instagram post from Baldwin and Co. announced: “All Lit-House Events happening on June 30th” at the bookstore were canceled, according to AP.
Bookstore owner Dernell “DJ” Johnson slammed the festival’s legal maneuver and noted that his shop is located within the protected zone. According to WWL-TV, Johnson expressed his frustrations in an open letter, stating he is “appalled and deeply offended by these actions, particularly considering the unconstitutional nature of Clean Zone ordinances and the unjust targeting of our establishment.”
On social media, several high-profile users slammed the festival for targeting the bookstore. Pulitzer…
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