The 2019 OZY Fest has been canceled by the New York City Mayor’s Office.
According to an announcement shared by Mayor Bill de Blasio on Friday afternoon, the two-day festival event which was set to take place at the Great Lawn in New York City’s Central Park on July 20th and 21st will no longer happen due to the drastically high temperatures set to take over the city throughout the weekend. The second edition of the annual summer event was set to welcome attendees with a programming lineup that meshed music, food, politics, and comedy.
“I don’t know what Ozy Fest feels personally,” de Blasio said during a press conference held on Friday. “There are consistent reports that temperatures will be 110 degrees… We’re saying we’re done here. They may feel the same way, but we came to the decision that this shouldn’t continue to go on.”
Festival organizers shared a statement of their own on Friday afternoon, reading:
“As many of you know, there is a city-wide heat emergency. To ensure everyone’s safety, OZY Fest will not be going ahead as scheduled this weekend. We are so disappointed and sorry that this has happened. We are currently working with the City to figure out alternative plans. We will be in touch with ticket holders and the media as soon as we have more information.”
This year’s event was set to be hosted by former Yankee Alex Rodriguez alongside OZY co-founder and CEO Carlos Watson. The schedule’s entertainment lineup was set to include performances from John Legend, Miguel, ARIZONA, and Jazzy Amra; comedians Trevor Noah, Dulcé Sloan, and Ronny Chieng; and author Deepak Chopra. The non-entertainment portion of the lineup addition was set to feature discussions with New York Times journalist Malcolm Gladwell; filmmaker Spike Lee; politicians Stacey Abrams, 2020 Presidential candidate Beto O’Rourke, and Gov. John Kasich; celebrity chefs Marcus Samuelsson, Padma Lakshmi, and Rachael Ray; business leaders Mark Cuban, Cindy Eckert, Thasunda Duckett, Marc Lasry, and many more.
Watch the entire press conference regarding the city’s emergency heat advisory below.
BREAKING: @NYCMayor announces that @OZYfest will be canceled due to the heat emergency. https://t.co/MSWmbO7Nil
— NYC Mayor’s Office (@NYCMayorsOffice) July 19, 2019
[H/T Gothamist]
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