If you love country music and presidential assassins, then today's your lucky day.
John Hinckley Jr., the man who infamously tried to assassinate late Republican President Ronald Reagan in 1981 in an attempt to impress actress Jodie Foster, appeared on Twitter this week pitching himself as a country singer.
Calling himself "the real John Hinckley," the attempted assassin tweeted for people to check out his Spotify and YouTube channels.
See the tweet below.
Hello everybody, this is the real John Hinckley. I\u2019m now a singer/songwriter. I have 10 original songs on Spotify and the other streaming sites. Check them out. Also, check out my YouTube channel.— John Hinckley (@John Hinckley) 1634663286
Hinckley began posting his songs to YouTube last December, and has since been added to both Spotify and Apple Music, along with other streaming platforms. Most of the songs are just simple ditties featuring Hinckley and his guitar, but a few have a full band enlisted to back him up.
Hinckley's coming out of the woodwork and pitching himself as a country crooner is a deeply bizarre turn in his already deeply bizarre story.
On March 30, 1981, Hinckley shot a .22 long rifle at former President Reagan outside a Washington D.C. hotel in an attempt to gain the attention of Foster, with whom he had become obsessed after seeing her in the film Taxi Driver. One of his bullets ricocheted off the presidential limousine and hit Reagan, gravely injuring and very nearly killing him.
Hinckley also shot and injured two police officers, a secret service agent and, most gravely, White House Press Secretary Jim Brady, who died in 2014 from complications resulting from his injuries at Hinckley's hand 33 years before, leading authorities to rule his death a homicide.
Hinckley was found not guilty by reason of insanity in 1982 because of his psychosis-fueled obsession with Foster, and was held in St. Elizabeth's psychiatric care facility in Washington, D.C. until 2016, when he was granted conditional release to his mother's house in Virginia.
His unconditional full release was granted just last month. And now, it seems, he is celebrating by launching a music career.
Perhaps unsurprisingly, Hinckley's big announcement made quite an impression on Twitter, where people couldn't help but joke about this strange turn of events.
We can retire "check out my soundcloud," this is the peak of that genrehttps://twitter.com/JohnHinckley20/status/1450509070964826112\u00a0\u2026— David Weigel (@David Weigel) 1634672702
It's the "now" for me.https://twitter.com/JohnHinckley20/status/1450509070964826112\u00a0\u2026— Daniel O'Brien (@Daniel O'Brien) 1634697965
[shoots ronald reagan]\n\nwow, this blew up lol. since y'all here...https://twitter.com/JohnHinckley20/status/1450509070964826112\u00a0\u2026— Peter Miller (@Peter Miller) 1634682131
Do we think Jodie Foster is impressed by his music?https://twitter.com/JohnHinckley20/status/1450509070964826112\u00a0\u2026— Tyler Shaw (@Tyler Shaw) 1634785381
i fell into a coma on the operating table and my mind is feeding on itselfhttps://twitter.com/JohnHinckley20/status/1450509070964826112\u00a0\u2026— Jean-Michel Connard \uea00 (@Jean-Michel Connard \uea00) 1634680787
If your music is better than your aim I am gonna have to give it a listenhttps://twitter.com/JohnHinckley20/status/1450509070964826112\u00a0\u2026— Westen (@Westen) 1634756081
phoebe bridgers ur overhttps://twitter.com/JohnHinckley20/status/1450509070964826112\u00a0\u2026— \u03df (@\u03df) 1634767317
I find it incredibly other-worldly that the guy who shot a United States president is out of jail while the guy who shot a Beatle is still in prisonhttps://twitter.com/JohnHinckley20/status/1450509070964826112\u00a0\u2026— PoliMath (@PoliMath) 1634695366
There really is a "before" and "after" line for the world that was drawn in 2016.https://twitter.com/JohnHinckley20/status/1450509070964826112\u00a0\u2026— Liam... MCENEANEY!!! (@Liam... MCENEANEY!!!) 1634681454
In just two days, Hinckley has already racked up more than 8,000 followers.
The 2020s just keep getting weirder and weirder.
