Vanilla Ice cancels controversial mid-pandemic concert

A controversial concert scheduled to take place in Texas this Fourth of July weekend has been put on ice.

Vanilla Ice on Thursday said he's postponing a concert that was set for Friday in Austin, Texas, even though the state has been experiencing a surge in COVID-19 cases.

"Basically, I'm not going," he said in a video posted to Twitter. "I listened to my fans. I hear all you people out there. I didn't know the numbers were so crazy in Austin."

News that the concert was set to go forward drew backlash given the state's rising coronavirus cases, and the Travis County Health Department told TMZ, "This is not wise regardless of who is performing at any gathering right now." Vanilla Ice in the video posted on Thursday said he was hoping the pandemic "would be a lot better by Fourth of July" when booking the concert. No new date was provided for the show, though he held out hope that "this corona crap will have a cure" by New Year's.

As Entertainment Weekly points out, the "Ice Ice Baby" rapper previously defended his Texas concert amid the backlash only hours ago, in a tweet earlier today claiming that "I take the coronavirus serious" but arguing the show would be fine and that "we can't live in a bubble." He quickly changed his mind, apparently after having stopped, collaborated, and listened.