Hundreds were turned away from West Hollywood’s Pride Festival on Saturday night, including many people who’d purchased tickets.
Over 100,000 people turned out for the LA Pride Festival, meant to run before and after Sunday’s Pride Parade.
Although Saturday’s festival was scheduled to run from 12 PM to 1 AM, the event hit capacity attendance by 10 PM. As a result, the fire marshal and West Hollywood Sheriff's office stopped all entry to the festival.
According to some attendees, the police reaction might have gotten a little over the top with cops in reported riot gear.
“What were they expecting, Stonewall?” said Jerwyn Morton who flew in from New York City to attend LA Pride. “I have never seen so many cops in my life wearing riot gear at a gay event.”
From the LA Blade:
In the past several years, the event has faced an increasingly more complex geometry as the West Hollywood Park where it is held has been unavailable for the event. At the same time, organizers have added more and more high-end music programming and stages while reducing more carnival like attractions and vendors.
“The Festival has become a full on Rave. I went this evening because I wanted to simply stroll around the festival, but the line of early 20 something people was 20 people deep for several blocks, said Christopher Johnson, 44, of Long Beach. “I’m glad it’s successful but I’m not welcome. There’s nothing there for me anymore and it makes me feel old.”
NBC Los Angeles reported disturbances at the will call window and in the street, and an LA County Sheriff’s Department officer was assaulted.
Journalist Garrick Kennedy tweeted updates from the event including some complaints headliner Kehlani voiced from the stage about the sound system. According to Kennedy, the driving force behind the surge in ticket sales was Kehlani's fans who tripled attendance from last year.
Plus, the event planners apparently utilized three different stages for entertainment which took up space for attendees.
LA Pride tweeted out a video link to Kehlani's set and promised those who purchased entry they would be able to use those tickets today.
@Kehlani | LA PRIDE 2018 #JUSTBE https://t.co/5EU14k7QYX
— LA Pride (@lapride) June 10, 2018
