An 18-year-old hard-rock fan nicknamed "Armed" has filed a lawsuit asserting a constitutional right to see and hear the rock group Marilyn Manson perform at the Utah State Fairpark.
According to the lawsuit, Fairpark management pulled the plug on a scheduled Jan. 11 performance by the group after reviewing some of its lyrics and promotional materials."The Utah State Fairpark desires to maintain a reputation of high standards in all phases of our business activities," Fairpark President and CEO John Whittaker said in a Dec. 19 letter to the concert promoters Scott Arnold and Dave Merkley.
It's the second time that Marilyn Manson has been shut out of Utah. In 1994, the Delta Center stopped the group from opening a performance by Nine Inch Nails after deeming its lyrics "unacceptable."
That prompted Nine Inch Nails lead vocalist Trent Reznor to launch a profanity-laced diatribe from the stage against Mayor Deedee Corradini and Delta Center owner Larry Miller.
While the Delta Center may have been able to invoke the right of private ownership to ban the group, the Fairpark must function as a public forum, said Salt Lake attorney Brian M. Barnard.
"A state or government entity can establish reasonable criteria - such as time and place - in determining performances, but no criteria would be valid if it involves an examination of content," Barnard said.
In the lawsuit, "Armed" is seeking a federal court determination that the Fairpark has violated her First Amendment right "to hear and receive expressed opinions and enjoy musical performances without content-based censorship or restriction by governmental actors."
She is also asking the court to order Whittaker to allow the show to go on as scheduled. Whittaker said he has no intention of doing that.
"We want to preserve a family environment at the Fairpark. Marilyn Manson doesn't portray that kind of image," Whittaker said. "I asked the promoter himself if he would allow his kids to attend the concert if it were held here, and he said, `Absolutely not.' "
He also noted that the Fairpark became a non-profit public corporation on July 1, 1995. The corporation leases the facility from the state but is only a "quasi-public" entity, he said.
"We have every right to select the performances," he said.
But "Armed" argues in her lawsuit that Whittaker's decision was based upon "some amorphous, unpublished and unwritten standards" of his own choosing.
"(Whittaker) and the Utah State Fairpark and the Utah State Fair Corporation have never established or adopted a written or specific criteria to determine who or what bands, groups, entities, agencies, persons, musical groups, etc. should be or should not be allowed to perform at buildings at the Utah State Fairpark," the suit said.
No criteria would be valid in any event if it excluded someone because of the content of their speech, Barnard said.
"It would be like saying we will allow a rally on public property by a political group we agree with it but not an opposing group with whom we disagree," he said. "The First Amendment applies to everyone."
Barnard said the nickname of the plaintiff was used in the filing of the federal suit to convey a broader representation. "We believe there may be others joining in this lawsuit," he said.
The group Marilyn Manson itself is not a party to the suit, Barnard said.