‘Bat-eating b******s’: Canadian rocker Bryan Adams faces backlash over ‘racist’ coronavirus rant
- Singer apologises after urging Chinese people to ‘go vegan’ while complaining on Twitter and Instagram about gigs being cancelled due to pandemic
- Comments come amid rise in anti-Asian racism and attacks
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Canadian rocker Bryan Adams apologised on Tuesday after facing accusations of anti-Chinese racism over his online rant about the pandemic forcing the cancellation of his London shows this week.
The Cuts Like a Knife singer issued a statement offering “apologies to any and all that took offence to my posting yesterday,” adding: “I have love for all people.”
Adams had said in earlier expletive-laced Twitter and Instagram posts that his gigs at the Royal Albert Hall were nixed thanks to “bat eating, wet market animal selling, virus making greedy b******s”.
He went on to say that “the whole world is now on hold, not to mention the thousands that have suffered or died from this virus,” admonishing the Chinese to “go vegan”.
Born in Kingston, Ontario, Adams currently lives in London and is a vegan.
While animal rights groups praised his call to stop eating meat, others interpreted the expletive-laced comments as anti-Chinese.
“This is so irresponsible and so racist,” said Amy Go of the Chinese Canadian National Council for Social Justice.
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“He’s a Canadian idol and he’s fanning the flames of anti-Chinese racism, and contributing to an increase in hateful taunts and blatant [physical] attacks on Chinese and Asian people in Canada and around the world,” she said.
Others called his remarks “racist garbage”.
Wet markets sell fresh food and produce, including farmed animals and wildlife. One such market in Wuhan, China was identified last week by the World Health Organisation as having been a possible source or “amplifying setting” of the outbreak.
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In his apology, Adams explained: “No excuse, I just wanted to have a rant about the horrible animal cruelty in these wet markets being the possible source of the virus, and promote veganism.”
The recent rise of anti-Chinese rhetoric and violence linked to the pandemic is only anecdotal but there are a myriad of cases reported online.
Adams has since deleted the tweet but his message remained on Instagram. In it he also said he missed his band or “other family” while in self-isolation with his wife and children.
Additional reporting by Reuters
