Bryan Adams recently made headlines after being slammed as racist for his recent post on Instagram. He has already issued an apology for it.
The major online backlash against Canadian singer-songwriter Bryan Adams rooted in his coronavirus-related social media post.
He wrote that they were supposed to play at their scheduled gig at the Royal Albert Hall in London. But due to the pandemic, it was postponed and he explicitly blamed it all on a certain group of people.
The reckless post
The “Run to You” singer attacked the “bat eating, wet market animal selling, virus making greedy bastards” in China for being the source of the COVID-19 outbreak.
He said that because of their actions, the world is now on hold and thousands have suffered or died from the virus. He also let out a sarcastic “thank you” followed by a comment to “go vegan.”
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His post quickly sparked controversy. Many labeled it as a reckless and racist post for attacking the Chinese and Asian culture. The issue also trended on Twitter and Taiwanese-American actress Cindy Chiu was among his critics. She called him “super super racist.”
Well-known Chinese-Canadian activist Amy Go also spoke out against the rock star saying she was “very angry” by the “racist and hateful” comments. And although the singer did not directly refer to the Chinese people, she said that it was clear to whom he was addressing it.
Adams based his remark from the World Health Organization’s link between a wet market in Wuhan, China, and the virus. However, it’s still unknown whether bat consumption was really the original source of the virus’ transmission to humans.
The apology post
Bryan Adams did not turn a deaf ear though. He was quick to issue an apology through a follow-up post.
“Apologies to any and all that took offense to my posting yesterday,” the 60-year old musician wrote in the caption of a video of him singing “Into the Fire.”
He then explained that he just wanted to rant about animal cruelty happening in wet markets. The horrible killings of exotic animals could possibly be the source of the virus and so he is promoting veganism.
“I have love for all people and my thoughts are with everyone dealing with this pandemic around the world,” Adams said in his closing message.
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Siding with the singer
Although Adams received backlash, not all joined in the critical side. There were some who supported his post by saying that there was nothing racist about what he said.
He is also known to be a die-hard vegan and animal rights activist so some are confused about which part was he being a racist. PETA even came to his defense.
“Bryan Adams echoes the frustrations of millions of people who are outraged that the violent meat trade has once again been allowed to devastate human health,” said PETA senior VP Dan Mathews.
Featured image courtesy of Narcis Parfenti/Shutterstock