Country music star Chase Rice has responded to backlash following his packed concert in Tennessee during the pandemic and being called “selfish” by music stars.
“I just wanted to address my show Saturday night,” the 34-year-old singer shared in his post on Instagram. The comments were noted by E! News in a piece published Tuesday. (RELATED: David Hookstead Is The True King In The North When It Comes To College Football)
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“I took a video of the concert, everybody had a blast, but then once I posted the video, a lot of people seeing that online had a big problem with how the show looked, how the show went down,” he added. (RELATED: REPORT: Coachella Potentially Rescheduled To October Due To Coronavirus Fears)
Rice continued, while noting that he understood that “there’s a lot of varying opinions, a lot of different opinions on COVID-19, how it works with live music crowds and what all that looks like.”
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The “Eyes on You” hitmaker then explained that his fans are “everything” to him and their “safety is a huge, huge priority,” before sharing that his upcoming shows will be taking place at a drive-in location so as to conform with social distancing guidelines.
“The safer we are now, the quicker we get to get to actual normal live shows, which I know we all want,” Rice concluded. “Please go by the rules, please go by the laws.”
It all comes following a backlash against the singer after video surfaced online of his show over the weekend of people appearing to not be wearing face masks and not practicing social distancing during the coronavirus outbreak.
Country music star Kelsea Ballerini blasted Chase, writing, “Imagine being selfish enough to put thousands of people’s health at risk, not to mention the potential ripple effect, and play a NORMAL country concert right now.”
Imagine being selfish enough to put thousands of people’s health at risk, not to mention the potential ripple effect, and play a NORMAL country concert right now. @ChaseRiceMusic, We all want (and need) to tour. We just care about our fans and their families enough to wait. https://t.co/eJaLnGu28k
— Kelsea Ballerini (@KelseaBallerini) June 28, 2020
“@ChaseRiceMusic, We all want (and need) to tour,” she added. “We just care about our fans and their families enough to wait.”
Singer Mickey Guyton replied to Ballereni’s post and wrote, “An absolute selfish act. Shame on him.”
The concert venue told the outlet that before concert goers entered the facility they were all given temperature checks and hand sanitizer. On top of that, “all vendors and staff were advised to wear masks and gloves when interacting with guests, and bandanas were available for purchase on-site.”
“We were unable to further enforce the physical distancing recommended in the signage posted across the property and are looking into future alternative scenarios that further protect the attendees, artists and their crews and our employees,” the venue added.
The statement concluded, “We are reevaluating the series from the top to bottom—from implementing further safety measures, to adding stanchions, to converting the space to drive-in style concerts, to postponing shows.”