A concert promotions firm in San Diego has hit Los Angeles County with an $800,000 lawsuit, claiming the Los Angeles County Fair Association violated the First and Fourteenth Amendments by canceling a Hip-Hop car show featuring DJ Funkmaster Flex because the music was “offensive.”
Imagine Media Group LLC, entered into a contract with The Los Angeles County Fair Association on March 9 to host the Funkmaster Flex Car & Bike Show August 11-12 at the Pomona Fairplex, which is operated by The Los Angeles County Fair Association in Pomona, California.
Imagine Media’s lawyer Raymond Buendia alleges that promoters disclosed that the Funkmaster Flex Car & Bike Show would feature entertainment and performances.
Funkmaster Flex is a world famous DJ on New York’s Hot 97 and hosts All Muscle with Funkmaster Flex on ESPN2 and Car Wars.
The Funkmaster Flex Car & Bike Show is in its seventh year and is one of the best known touring car show brands in the automotive industry, alongside others like DUB and Hot Import Nights.
The lawsuit, which was filed on September 20 in the United States District Court for the Central District of California, claims that James Henwood, COO of The Los Angeles County Fair Association canceled the agreement on August 8, because he found Hip-Hop music to be “offensive.”
Henwood and Dwight Richards, VP of Sales and Marketing, allegedly canceled the concert “under the guise of unjustifiable public safety grounds.”
Imagine Media claims that Henwood and Richards’ actions violated the First and Fourteenth Amendments and were willful, deliberate and malicious, causing them to lose over $800,000.
The company seeks compensatory damages for violation of civil rights, compensatory damages, exemplary and punitive damages and attorney’s fees.
The Los Angeles County Fair is a popular event that started on the grounds in 1922 and was officially organized as the Los Angeles County fair by the City of Pomona and the City of Los Angeles in 1940.
In the 1942 the area was occupied for six years and used as a prisoner of war camp during World War II for thousands of Japanese, German and Italian prisoners of war.
The company was reorganized in 1948 and has operated the fair on 543 acres of land that includes over 325,000 square feet of modern, column-free indoor exhibit space for cars and other forms of large scale entertainment.
Representatives for The Los Angeles County Fair Association were not available for comment at press time.