Vanilla Ice Postpones Austin Concert After Complaints Over Mid-Pandemic Scheduling (Video)
Vanilla Ice has postponed his Austin, Texas concert that was previously set for July after being met with criticism for trying to schedule a large gathering during a pandemic.
The “Ice Ice Baby” rapper, whose real name is Robert Van Winkle, tweeted the news to his followers Thursday.
“Due to the increase in COVID-19 numbers in Austin we’re gonna move the concert to a better date. We were hoping for better Coronavirus numbers by July but Unfortunately the numbers have increased quite a bit so for the safety and health of everyone we’re going to stay home,” he wrote along with a video explaining the decision.
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“We were just hoping for a good time for 4th of July weekend, but it turned into being a big focal point on me and it’s not about that,” he said in the video.
The decision to postpone the concert comes hours after the rapper defended the scheduling choice — despite the fact Gov. Greg Abbott had closed all bars in the state last week — earlier on Thursday morning in a since-deleted tweet, “I take the coronavirus serious. But we can’t live in a bubble. I think at this point we all understand the severity of it. practice social distancing and wear a mask. This is an outside venue, Fourth of July on the lake with fireworks. Plenty of room for distancing.”
He had promoted the event earlier this week with a post on his Instagram page, writing, “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 had 5.0’s, blockbuster, Beavis and Butthead, Wayne’s world, Chris Tucker and Jackie Chan. And Mortal Kombat is still better than fortnight but we got out of the house, We danced, we invented house parties in the 90s. The last of the great decades.”
The show was set to take place on July 3 at Emerald Point Bar & Grill in Austin. The venue is technically considered a restaurant, according to the Austin Chronicle, because it derives 51% of sales from food, meaning it is exempt from the governor’s order.
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