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Canadian singer Bryan Adams faces backlash over COVID-19 social media posts

Public reacts to tweet
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Canadian singer Bryan Adams has been criticized over social media posts about COVID-19, in a May 12, 2020 story. (File photo by THE CANADIAN PRESS)

Canadian singer Bryan Adams is facing backlash over social media posts on the novel coronavirus that some critics are calling racist.

On Twitter and Instagram, Adams blamed the global pandemic on “(expletive) bat eating, wet market animal selling, virus making greedy bastards.”

He also decried the impact of the virus on the world, noting the cancellation of a series of shows he was set to play in England.

The tweet appears to have since been deleted but the Instagram post was still up this morning, though it seems comments have been closed.

Many on social media condemned Adams’s comments as racist, saying he was contributing to anti-Chinese rhetoric surrounding the virus.

Others accused him of losing sight of the true victims of a pandemic that has claimed hundreds of thousands of lives worldwide.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published on May 12, 2020.