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Future and Lil Yachty cancel Welcome Week concert

University Programs Council working to determine alternate concert, event options

Rappers Future and Lil Yachty have canceled their concert planned for Saturday at John Paul Jones Arena, the University Programs Council announced Thursday. The concert was a part of UPC’s Welcome Week activities.

“Future expressed concerns with safety, particularly following the events of this past weekend,” Nolan Reilly, UPC chair and a fourth-year Batten student, said in an email to The Cavalier Daily on Thursday evening.

“Our contingency plan has been developing hour by hour, but we are currently leveraging a social media marketing campaign to get the attention of Chance the Rapper,” Reilly added.

UPC members were notified Thursday evening of the performance cancellation.

A social media campaign started Thursday night with the hashtag #giveUVAaCHANCE to encourage artist Chance the Rapper to come to the University as a replacement.

Future also canceled a concert in Virginia Beach that was scheduled for Sunday.

Last Friday, hundreds of white nationalists marched on Grounds ahead of last Saturday’s “Unite the Right” rally. The rally left one woman, 32-year-old Heather Heyer, dead after a car plowed into a group of counter-protesters. Two state troopers also died Saturday when a helicopter crashed near the Birdwood Golf Course. The helicopter had been assisting law enforcement in the city that day.

The Welcome Week Concert is a University-sponsored alternative to the Wertland Street Block Party, which is held annually on move-in weekend. University President Teresa Sullivan called for Block Party to be cancelled in an email to students Tuesday. Block Party occurs off-Grounds and is not sanctioned by the University.

This story has been updated with additional information from the University Programs Council. 

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