Turku’s head of office Tuomas Heikkinen explains why the city canceled Jari Sillanpää’s Christmas concert only now citing his crimes and convictions, even though they have been known for a long time.
Turku decision Jari Sillanpään the cancellation of the Christmas concert has been received by the head of the city’s office Tuomas Heikkinen including both praise and criticism.
“Both have come, probably about the same amount. Those who give thanks are thankful for the city’s value choice, while those who are sorry are upset that they bought a ticket and now can’t get to the concert. Some have also been of the opinion that our choice of values is wrong.”
The crimes committed by Jari Sillanpää and the sentences received for them have been known for a long time. Why did the city of Turku first give Sillanpää permission to hold a Christmas concert in the Turku Concert Hall and only now decided to cancel the concert?
“Let’s just say that who we have at any given time in the city premises is not necessarily something that the city management would know. In this case, a reservation had been made for the event and only after it had started to be marketed, the matter came to the management’s attention. Then there was an immediate reaction to it.”
According to Heikkinen, the matter was discussed in Turku, in addition to him, by the cultural director of Turku Anu Laitila and the mayor of Turku Minna Arve (cook).
Is it Sillanpää is forever banned from the events of the city of Turku or will he be able to perform in Turku again?
“It is difficult to assess this and it is difficult to take a position on this. How the matter is approached depends, of course, on the nature of the crime. Whether this will result in a permanent ban or whether the passage of time can affect the matter remains to be seen.”
With regard to Sillanpää, Heikkinen emphasizes that the decision weighed a wide range of different perspectives. Even if a person has received a sentence and served a sentence, it may not be enough on its own. The quality of the crime matters.
“The criminal consequence is a completely different matter. Yes, we have to consider whether the person still corresponds to the city’s values even after serving the sentence.”
Jari Sillanpää has been convicted of, among other things, drug crimes and spreading an image that violates sexual decency. The verdict regarding the footage came in 2020 at the Helsinki District Court.
According to the court, Sillanpää’s phone had a video recorded on the computer screen in which an adult man has sex with a very young child. In addition, eight photos had been taken on the phone, in which an adult targets a very young child with sexual activity, the verdict states. According to Sillanpää, the illegal material was filmed by another person, but the court did not find it credible.
Heikkinen says that the cancellation of Sillanpää’s Christmas concert is “certainly not” the only case where the matter needs to be thought about.
“In the past, we have had to intervene and subsequently cancel an event that is, for example, racist or otherwise contrary to what we consider to be good manners.”
Also The city of Hämeenlinna previously canceled a concert that was part of Jari Sillanpää’s Christmas tour and justified it with the city’s child-friendly values, just like Turku.
Heikkinen says that the decision made by the city of Hämeenlinna and its reasons did not affect Turku.
“In hindsight, I noticed that Hämeenlinna has also made such a solution. We would have made this decision anyway.”
Turku has now learned so much from the emotional reactions caused by the cancellation of the concert that the city plans to update and further refine its own ethical guidelines.
“Especially regarding the choice of partners. The current guidelines do not provide sufficient answers to all issues, which is why individual people have to think too much about individual cases. We are also going to inform about the new guidelines internally and go through them in the organization,” says Heikkinen.
Read more: Turku cancels Jari Sillanpää’s Christmas concert – “In conflict with the value base”
Read more: Hämeenlinna canceled Jari Sillanpää’s concert, other cities didn’t – “We don’t become judges”
Read more: The city of Hämeenlinna canceled Jari Sillanpää’s concert
Read more: Jari Sillanpää received many punishments for his mistakes at once: The biggest one is shame, which has caused him to isolate himself
Read more: Jari Sillanpää was a singing star loved by the whole nation, but then he started injecting methamphetamine directly into his vein and lost everything
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