R&B star and Motown recording legend Smokey Robinson on Monday added his name to the list of performers avoiding Cincinnati because of the city's racial tensions.

        The singer-songwriter pulled out of his Wednesday performance at the Taft Theatre after receiving a letter from the Coalition for a Just Cincinnati asking entertainers to boycott the city.

        Last week, actor and comedian Bill Cosby canceled two March concerts after receiving the same letter. Both men are represented by the same agency — The William Morris Agency of Beverly Hills, Calif.

        The loss of two headline entertainers and a potential third, jazz trumpeter Wynton Marsalis, has boosted the credibility of the boycott. The effort has been gaining momentum and has some city leaders questioning whether they underestimated the resolve of its organizers.

        Mr. Robinson's decision came on the same day that:

        • Stonewall Cincinnati — a gay rights group — joined forces with the coalition and renewed its call for conventions to boycott downtown until the city charter amendment Article XII is repealed.

        • City Council considered a $198 million funding package to expand the Albert B. Sabin Cincinnati Convention Center.

        • U.S. Secretary of Labor Alexis Herman joined Martin Luther King III, president of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, in accepting Councilman Paul Booth's request to participate in mediation talks between city officials and boycott leaders.

        These cancellations “send the message nationally that Cincinnati is a city that's hands-off for some,” Mr. Booth said. “We have an image problem ... and our image is more valuable over time than what the boycott is costing us economically right now.”

        Mayor Charlie Luken said Monday that the boycott amounts to little more than “economic terrorism” whose victims are hardworking people like waiters and valets. “I think some people are getting their 15 minutes of fame,” Mr. Luken said of boycott organizers. “This is the ultimate case of the tail wagging the dog.”

        Omar Farag, the concert's promoter, issued a statement Monday saying “due to the political climate in Cincinnati — which has fans and the community divided,” Mr. Robinson would be postponing his performance.

        Neither officials at the Taft Theatre nor Mr. Farag would reveal how many tickets had been sold for the Robinson show.

        Tickets were $39 and refunds can be obtained at the point of purchase.

        Mr. Robinson's singing and performing career extends from the 1960s. As a member of the R&B group The Miracles, he recorded two dozen top 40 hits before going solo in 1972.

        Mr. Cosby backed out of two March 15 shows at the Aronoff Center for the Arts, saying he feels “uncomfortable” performing in the city's racially charged environment.

        The Grammy award-winning Mr. Marsalis could soon be the third to honor their call, boycott organizers say. Amanda May, a coalition member, said the jazz great will issue a statement about the city's racial troubles and remains in discussions with the coalition about canceling his March 16 performance. Mr. Marsalis' spokesman did not return calls for comment.

        “When a name like Smokey Robinson endorses the boycott, it sends a powerful message,” said the Rev. James W. Jones, chairman of the Coalition for a Just Cincinnati. “The boycott is serious, and we mean serious. We have some urgent concerns that need to be addressed and it is time that those in power recognize we need to be talking rather than entrenching and digging in,” he said.

        Mr. Booth agrees. The councilman has asked former President Jimmy Carter, Mr. King III and Ms. Herman to mediate talks — which could begin as soon as two weeks — in an effort to end the boycott. Mr. Booth said it would have been difficult for city leaders to anticipate several weeks ago that the boycott would gain such support so quickly. Cincinnati, he said, is at a crossroads.

        However, Mr. Luken said he's not so sure the city is best served by negotiating with people whose list of demands includes setting people free who've committed crimes.

        Mr. Luken said one way to defeat the boycott is for people to use downtown.

        Meanwhile, inside the convention center on Monday, a joint committee of City Council considered a $198 million financing package to expand the facility westward across Central Avenue.

        As City Council voted 8-0 to approve the expansion, the only acknowledgement of the boycott came when a consultant conceded that the events of the last year may be partly responsible for the downturn in Cincinnati's convention climate.

        Just minutes before the meeting, members of Stonewall Cincinnati — which represents about 400 gay and lesbian residents — held a press conference on the steps of the convention center to announce the renewal of their boycott of downtown conventions.

        In 1994, Stonewall asked conventions and businesses to withhold spending from Cincinnati tourism industry until Article XII was removed from the city's charter.

        It bars Cincinnati from providing “preferential treatment” to gays, lesbians or bisexuals.

        “The obstacle to full utilization of this convention center is not size, but injustice,” said Roy Ford, co-chairman of Stonewall. “Until Article XII is repeal, until we achieve true justice for all, this hall will never be filled to capacity.

        “You may build it, but they still won't come ... until these wrongs are made right.”

        Jane Prendergast and Gregory Korte contributed to this report.
       

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