POP/ROCK - Jan. 28, 1988

The rock group Def Leppard canceled its Feb. 15 University of Texas-El Paso concert after receiving death threats stemming from an ethnic slur made by lead singer Joe Elliot five years ago. Said spokeswoman Barbara Welch: “There’s been a few phone calls to the university by people saying they’d disrupt the event if things went as planned.” She also said the band has received death threats referring to a Sept. 7, 1983, Elliot comment at a Tucson, Ariz., concert. He told the crowd that the band had played the day before in El Paso, “that place with all the greasy Mexicans.” Elliott later apologized and offered $10,000 for needy children, but local Latino community officials spurned the money.