Bryan Adams has come under fire after posting a tweet in which he blamed some “fucking bat eating, wet market selling, virus making greedy bastards” for the coronavirus crisis.
The Canadian singer’s outburst on social media came on the day he was scheduled to start a residency at London’s Royal Albert Hall, which has been cancelled due to the pandemic.
Posting on his Instagram and Twitter accounts, Bryan wrote: “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.”
Bryan, who regularly talks about being a vegan to his fans on social media, added: “My message to them other than ‘thanks a fucking lot’ is go vegan.”
His comments were soon picked up on Twitter, where his name began trending, as people accused him of being “stigmatising” and “prejudice”.
The president of the Chinese Canadian National Council for Social Justice went one step further, claiming his comments would intensify “racist hatred against Chinese”.
“This is so irresponsible,” Amy Go told Canada’s CBC News.
Bryan was also accused on social media of conflating misinformation about the virus.
While researchers do know that it originated in China, they still have many questions about exactly how it emerged. Here’s a full primer on what we actually know.
Bryan has since deleted his post on Twitter, but it still remains on his Instagram account.
He has so far not addressed the backlash and HuffPost has contacted his representative for comment.