Vanilla Ice announces July 4 concert in COVID-19 hotspot

Vanilla Ice has announced plans for a Fourth of July celebrating concert (taking place on July 3) at a venue in Austin, Texas, at the weekend.

This doesn’t seem wise, as Texas is currently in the midst of a COVID-19 spike. A record daily high of 8,076 cases was recently announced, an forecasts from the CDC (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention) predict nearly 2,000 new hospitalisations per day by mid-July.

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Tickets for the gig at Emerald Point Bar & Grill being billed as an “Independence Day Throwback Party” cost between $25 to $300.

The Texas Tribune reports that the capacity has been set at 450 people and as of Wednesday night 84 tickets had been sold. The eventbrite listing notes “We will be doing temperature checks at the door. Masks will be required to attend.”

In a recent nostalgic Instagram post showing concert footage, the Texan rapper wrote: “I can’t wait to get back to this. The 90s were the best. We didn’t have coronavirus, or cell phones, or computers. … We danced, we invented house parties in the 90s. The last of the great decades #IMissThenineties”.

Last Friday, June 26, all bars in Texas were ordered to close by Governor Greg Abbott due to the surge in COVID-19 cases.

Vanilla Ice is facing calls to cancel the event on social media. He addressed the criticism in the comments of another Instagram post today, writing: “I take everything serious with the coronavirus. But we can’t live in a bubble. We will 100% be practicing social distancing and everyone will have masks and be responsible, It’s an outside venue with plenty of room. It’s Fourth of July on the lake, with fireworks, Much better in the real world then cyber world.”

Patrick Hinton is Mixmag's Digital Features Editor, follow him on Twitter

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