After facing backlash and criticism for his ‘racist’ coronavirus post, singer Bryan Adams apologised on Tuesday. The Canadian singer had put up a long post on his social media handles after his London shows were cancelled due to the coronavirus pandemic. In the post that drew widespread outrage, he blamed ‘bat eating, wet market animal selling, virus making greedy bastards” for the coronavirus.
“A song by me. Tonight was supposed to be the beginning of a tenancy of gigs at the @royalalberthall, but thanks to some fucking bat eating, wet market animal selling, virus making greedy bastards, the whole world is now on hold, not to mention the thousands that have suffered or died from this virus. My message to them other than “thanks a fucking lot” is go vegan. To all the people missing out on our shows, I wish I could be there more than you know. It’s been great hanging out in isolation with my children and family, but I miss my other family, my band, my crew and my fans. Take care of yourselves and hope we can get the show on the road again soon. I’ll be performing a snippet from each album we were supposed to perform for the next few days,” he said.
The post was widely condemned on social media, and Amy Go, president of the Chinese Canadian National Council for Social Justice, told the Canadian Broadcasting Corp that the singer’s comments were “just so, so, so, so racist.”
In his apology, also posted on Instagram, Adams said he had no excuse; he “just wanted to have a rant about the horrible animal cruelty in these wet-markets being the possible source of the virus, and promote veganism.” He conveyed his apologies to ‘any and all that took offence’ to his post and said that he had love for all people.
The Huanan seafood market in China’s Wuhan is thought to be where the virus originated, though China has dismissed the allegations. Ever since the global outbreak, there have been increased reports of racist attacks people of Asian descent.
