Drifter John Hinckley Jr., 68, who tried to assassinate Ronald Reagan in 1981 and left then-president badly-wounded moans he's a victim of cancel culture after venues refused to host his music concerts

Drifter John Hinckley Jr., who shot Ronald Reagan in an attempted assassination, has claimed he has become a victim of cancel culture. 

Hinckley, 68, spent decades in a mental institution after pleading insanity for gunning down the president in 1981 in a bizarre attempt to impress actress Jodie Foster. The shooting also injured a police officer, a secret service member and Reagan's Press Secretary, James Brady, who eventually died of his injuries.

After a federal judge granted him unconditional release from court restrictions in June 2022, Hinckley embarked on a music career. 

Hinckley plays guitar and sings on his YouTube channel and even went on tour in New York and Chicago in July 2022. 

However, he claims his most recent concerts have become a victim of 'cancel culture.'

Hinckley plays guitar and sings on his Youtube channel and even went on tour in New York and Chicago in July 2022

Hinckley, 68, spent decades in a mental institution after pleading insanity for gunning down the president in 1981

'With all of my concerts canceled, it’s a fair statement to say I’m a victim of cancel culture!' he wrote on X on Thursday. 

One of the performances was due to take place at the Hotel Huxley in Naugatuck, Connecticut, next Saturday. 

In January, Hinckley posted on X about a performance meant to be taking place at the Young Ethel’s in Brooklyn also being cancelled.  

It is not yet clear why the performances were canceled. 

Undeterred however, Hinckley said on Friday that he is working on new music. 

'I’m working on a new album. It will be called “Lonely Dreamer"' he wrote on X. 

Hinckley also sells paintings online including a recent work of a cat and a woman with red hair.

A 1995 civil settlement had banned Hinckley from financially benefiting from his name or story. 

Hickley claims his most recent concerts' cancellations have made him a victim of 'cancel culture' 

Hinckley arrives at District Court in Washington for a hearing in November 2003 

Hinckley also sells paintings online including a recent work of a cat and a woman with red hair

The attempted assassination of Reagan was a bizarre attempt to impress actress Jodie Foster

Press Secretary James Brady is placed into an ambulance on March 30, 1981, shortly after John Hinckley's attempt to assassinate President Reagan outside the Hilton Hotel in Washington

Marshalls escort John Hinckley Jr. as he returns to a marine base via helicopter in Quantico, Virginian August 8, 1981

But in October 2020, he won a ruling to publicly display his artwork and music under his own name after previously being forced to release it anonymously.

Most of the music he has written are love songs. 

Hinckley has posted himself singing cover songs including, Elvis Presley's Can't Stop Falling In Love and Bob Dylan's Blowing in the Wind, with his channel so far racking up nearly 100,000 views among all of his songs.  

His self-penned ballads include Majesty of Love with the lyrics, 'the world is in so much pain, we have much to gain', and Everything Is Gonna Be Alright, where he croons 'there ain't nothing wrong with the rain, it is good to wash away the pain.'

Hinckley had multiple loves while at St. Elizabeths, the mental hospital where he was sent, including a woman with severe schizophrenia and Leslie deVeau, a D.C. woman who had murdered her own daughter. 

Hinckley said in 2020: 'I'm a musician. Nobody knows that. They just see me as the guy who tried to kill Reagan.'

Hinckley – who was 25 when he shot Reagan – has since been declared mentally stable, and his therapists helped him release music via Soundcloud and YouTube.

'I worry he's a well-known figure and I worry about someone trolling him,' one therapist said.

Another, Carl Beffa wrote in court papers: 'I would very much like to see him be able to make an income from his artwork. If it coincidentally happens his name is attached to it, I don't see it would be an issue.

'I would be surprised if it reverted back to this narcissism he had with Jodie Foster, because it has not been present in any way whatsoever.'

The judgment required Hinckley to inform his treatment team of his plans to display his works. 

A president almost died because an obsessed loser wanted Jodie Foster to notice him

Ronald Reagan was shot on March 30, 1981, outside the Washington Hilton Hotel after making a speech at an AFL-CIO meeting.

Shooter John Hinckley Jr. fired a .22 Long Rifle bullet that ricocheted off the presidential limousine and struck Reagan in the torso, puncturing a lung and causing serious internal bleeding. 

Hinckley fired six shots as Reagan exited the hotel. James Brady, the White House press secretary; Timothy McCarthy, a Secret Service agent; and Thomas Delahanty, a police officer, were also injured.

Ronald Reagan was seriously wounded on March 30, 1981, when Hinckley attempted to assassinate him

Chaos surrounds shooting victims immediately after the assassination attempt on President Reagan, March 30, 1981, by John Hinckley Jr. outside the Hilton Hotel in DC

The assassination attempt was a desperate and misguided bid by Hinckley to 'impress' actress Jodie Foster

Hinckley was desperate to impress actress Jodie Foster after seeing her in the 1976 movie Taxi Driver.

Hinckley came from a well-off family. His father Jack Hinckley, who died in 2008, was chairman and president of the Vanderbilt Energy Corporation. 

He moved to LA to become a songwriter and wrote letters to his parents talking about how he had found love with a woman called Lynn Collins – who turned out to be a figment of his imagination. 

After Foster enrolled at Yale in 1980, Hinckley moved to New Haven, Connecticut. He enrolled in writing classes to be near her, and pushed notes under her dorm door.

When she failed to reciprocate, he decided on a grand gesture, either commit suicide in front of her, hijack a plane, or kill the president. 

He decided on the latter and started to see how he could get close enough to Jimmy Carter to carry out his deadly attack.

He trailed the Democrat across country, getting arrested on firearms charges in Nashville, but he never got the chance to act. 

By the time he had a plan, Carter was out of the White House and Republican Reagan was in.

Shortly before he shot the president, he sent Foster a note. 

It read: ‘Over the past seven months I've left you dozens of poems, letters and love messages in the faint hope that you could develop an interest in me. 

'Although we talked on the phone a couple of times I never had the nerve to simply approach you and introduce myself.... The reason I'm going ahead with this attempt now is because I cannot wait any longer to impress you. — John Hinckley Jr.'

Injured in the attempted assassination of Reagan were Press Secretary James Brady and Agent Timothy McCarthy. The aftermath of the shooting is seen above

Reagan was rushed to George Washington University Hospital, which was just over a mile away, and had been routinely screened by the Secret Service as a potential emergency treatment site for the president.

Walter Reed National Military Medical Center, where presidents routinely receive medical care, is about nine miles from downtown DC.

Reagan underwent emergency surgery. 

Despite the severity of his injuries, Reagan was eager to show that he was on the mend, and met visitors and signed a piece of legislation the morning after the shooting.

He remained hospitalized at GWU Hospital for 12 days, and returned to the White House on April 11, 1981.

Attorneys for Hinckley argued that he was  'no longer a threat', and that he should not be held to a series of court-imposed restrictions that were put in place after he was released from a 35-year stint in a Washington mental hospital in 2016.

Hinckley was allowed to move to a gated community in Virginia with his elderly mother while adhering to a series of stipulations set in place by the court and being subjected to constant supervision by doctors and therapists.

In 2022, he became a completely free man.