Toronto Mayor John Tory (open John Tory's policard) is still leaving it up to North by Northeast organizers whether or not they’ll go ahead with a controversial free concert by rapper Action Bronson in Yonge-Dundas Square, but he’s noticeably hardened his stance on the matter.

Speaking to reporters at City Hall on Thursday morning, Tory said he’d “had some conversations” with senior NXNE officials the night before and “registered” his disapproval of Bronson — who has drawn the ire of a substantial, vocal group of Torontonians offended by what they claim is the violent, misogynist content of his lyrics — performing in a city-owned public space.

“It’s not my place to decide sort of what is art and what is music in the city — I’m very encouraging of artists and musicians to come here — but I did say that this kind of performance to take place certainly in a public space was not consistent with our policies,” said Tory.

“As a person, I find the trend of this kind of disrespectful — you might even argue it’s abusive — language to be astonishing and very disturbing. Again, it’s not my place to decide what music is, but I certainly registered with them that we just can’t have that sort of thing happening in public spaces.

“It’s not consistent with the city’s own policy for Yonge-Dundas Square and so I actually have a great deal of faith in the leadership of NXNE and I think you’re going to be hearing from them this morning that they’ve understood that message and will be taking steps to deal with it.”

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An online petition to have Bronson removed from the lineup of a free NXNE show at Yonge-Dundas Square on June 21 has amassed more than 18,000 signatures since Tuesday.

The petition — posted at change.org and directed at the City of Toronto, Mayor Tory, NXNE organizers, the NXNE-affiliated Now magazine and festival sponsor Vans Footwear — argues that the music of Action Bronson “glorifies gang-raping and murdering women” and therefore should not be permitted an airing in a city-owned space.

“We are petitioning to have this artist removed from the lineup of this show, on the grounds that he produces hate speech,” the petition’s creators write. “A musician who glorifies rape and violence against women should never be allowed to perform at a public space in our city.”

To support their claims, the petitioners quote liberally from an Action Bronson track titled “Consensual Rape” — which makes reference to “geeking” a woman up on MDMA and having her “please” a roomful of men — and provide a link to the video for “Brunch,” “in which the artist cooks a meal over a woman’s dead body, rolls her up in a carpet, throws her in his trunk and proceeds to violently stab her when he discovers she’s still alive.”

Action Bronson was defiant on Twitter Wednesday, exclaiming, “HAHAHAHA I THOUGHT THEY LOVED ME IN TORONTO!!! I CANT WAIT TO COME!!! ILL SEE AT NXNE.”

North by Northeast responded to the petition on Wednesday with a news release reminding Toronto that Action Bronson previously performed at Yonge-Dundas Square during the festival in 2012 alongside Killer Mike, Raekwon and Ghostface Killah in a “positive concert that was described by reviewers as ‘laid-back,’ ‘a lot of fun’ and a ‘world-class hip-hop showcase.’”

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The festival’s position is that “each and every one of these artists have the right to express their views through music, but those views belong to them and them alone.”

“NXNE will also present a number of rap artists at various venues, such as Tink and Kate Tempest, who have been lauded for the undisguised feminist viewpoints in their music,” managing director Sara Peel said in a statement. “That being said, in the interest of moving forward in a positive manner, we are engaging in discussion with our community about this important issue and looking to provide opportunities for concerned voices to be heard.”

With files from Jennifer Pagliaro

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