NEW ORLEANS — After a cease and desist was filed by Essence and ultimately led to the cancellation of an event being held at Baldwin and Co., last weekend, all parties involved have resolved the issue.
The event was supposed to highlight Black authors and artists, and was being put on by Lit Diaries. According to Essence and the city, the event was in violation of clean zones. Clean zones are areas where vendors, not affiliated with the large event can not sell products or merchandise, or use the event’s trademarks to sell things, or to promote other events.
Now Lit Diaries, which organized the event, and Essence have worked out their issues.
“We recognize that mistakes were made on both sides and are actively collaborating with the parties involved to rectify the situation at hand,” Essence and Lit Diaries said in a joint statement on Tuesday.
The statement continues on to say Essence’s actions were not aimed at shutting the event down, but rather to, “protect consumers from any misleading promotion of the event and to maintain their intellectual property rights and brand integrity.”
Wednesday, Mayor Cantrell said the cancellation and miscommunication were unfortunate.
“I'm speaking of miscommunication relative to multiple, multiple layers, even as it relates to social media and the likes, you know, an influencers speaking about one thing and really not understanding the full context,” Cantrell said.
Clean zones came to be during the Super Bowl. Mayor Cantrell said they are necessary to keep big events coming to the city.
“We're preparing for Super Bowl 2025 right now and they need to understand that even right now, the City of New Orleans takes our clean zone very seriously, that we will not allow certain measures to occur outside of that clean zone. That sends the right message to our partner,” Cantrell said.
But many have been concerned for local residents and businesses.
“The City of New Orleans and Essence remain committed to uplifting and working with local businesses as demonstrated throughout the festival and again always an opportunity to go deeper, do better and that’s something we pledged to do -- communication is key,” Cantrell said.
Mayor Cantrell said there were no other clean zone issues during Essence Fest. She added, the clean zone area was negotiated by the company hosting the event.
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