Vanilla Ice has canceled his Fourth of July concert after much backlash amid the coronavirus pandemic and push for social distancing.
Vanilla Ice has cancelled his Fourth of July concert after drawing extensive criticism over his disregard for social distancing. The 52-year-old “Ice Ice Baby” rapper was originally slated to perform at the “Independence Day Throwback Beach Party” at the Emerald Point Bar & Grill in Austin. However, Texas is one of the four states with the most reported coronavirus cases in the United States, and the event quickly attracted nationwide backlash. He took to Twitter on July 2 to announce the concert would be rescheduled. “Due to the increase in COVID-19 numbers in Austin we’re gonna move the concert to a better date,” he began.
Due to the increase in COVID-19 numbers in Austin we’re gonna move the concert to a better date. We were hoping for better Coronavirus numbers by July but Unfortunately the numbers have increased quite a bit so for the safety and health of everyone we’re going to stay home. pic.twitter.com/MWWfNWf3zd
— Vanilla Ice (@vanillaice) July 2, 2020
“We were hoping for better Coronavirus numbers by July but Unfortunately the numbers have increased quite a bit so for the safety and health of everyone we’re going to stay home.” It comes just days after he shared a post on social media promoting the event in Texas, where over 2000 people have lost their lives to the deadly virus. “Get ready to go back to The 90s, the greatest decade ever. Bring your dancin shoes, Speedo’s, bikinis, neon colors and and ninja turtle gear… hahha,” he wrote.
Vanilla Ice has cancelled his Fourth of July concert. Image: Shutterstock
The venue was selling up to 2,500 tickets (priced between $25-$300), the Austin Chronicle reported. With the potential for thousands of attendees to pack in shoulder-to-shoulder, people weren’t too thrilled to hear about Ice’s upcoming gig when it started trending on July 1. On that same day, the Texas Department of State Health Services reported 8,076 new coronavirus cases — a new single-day record for the virus hot spot.
Twitter commenters were quick to slam both Vanilla Ice, and those purchasing tickets for the event. “Imagine dying of the coronavirus because you went to a f–king Vanilla Ice concert,” writer Eric Francisco tweeted, while another person wrote, “If you get COVID because you went to the Vanilla Ice concert that somehow is the exception to closure rules, frankly, you deserve that.” Fans believe Ice couldn’t read the room, considering that the state’s governor Greg Abbott just ordered all bars to be closed and reduced restaurant capacity to 50 percent on June 26.
Sourse: hollywoodlife.com
