Bryan Adams Is the Latest Celebrity With a Bad Coronavirus Take That No One Asked For

From Esquire

In case it felt like it had been too long since a celebrity entered the "coronavirus conversation" with a terrible take, Canadian singer Bryan Adams chimed in on Monday with a performance of "Cuts Like a Knife" to mark what would have been a short residency at the Royal Albert Hall in London. Along with the announcement, Adams offered a supremely bad take on the origin of coronavirus.

In the caption of an Instagram post, the singer wrote, "Tonight was supposed to be the beginning of a tenancy of gigs at the @royalalberthall, but thanks to some fucking bat eating, wet market animal selling, virus making greedy bastards, the whole world is now on hold."

The 'wet markets,' Adams is referring to are markets where animals come straight from the farm and are sold, sometimes alive. In early days of the virus, some patients had been connected to visiting wet markets in Wuhan, China, however scientists still do not know the exact origin of COVID-19. Another unsubstantiated theory that has become popular in the United States is that the disease came from eating bats. Adams's post is a cacophony of misinformation, unsubstantiated claims and far-right conspiracy theories laced with xenophobia—particularly his assertion that "virus making greedy bastards" made Coronavirus in a Wuhan lab, which is unproven speculation that has been pushed by the White House.

Adams also commented on the post, "My message to them other than 'thanks a fucking lot' is go vegan." The "I Do it For You" singer blended three theories about the origins of the virus into one take before telling fans to take care of themselves. Since the initial posting, Adams has deleted the matching tweet, but his original Instagram post remains up.

Though the CDC does recognize that many early cases are tied to wet markets, the organization (and many other across the world) have recognized that there is no conclusive origin of the disease yet. Social media quickly noted Adams' response and clocked it as "anti-Chinese" and "anti-Asian." Amy Go, the president of the Chinese Canadian National Council for Social Justice, told CBC, "People look up to public figures. He is seen as an idol by many. It justifies this racist hatred against Chinese.… This is so irresponsible and just so, so, so, so racist."

Adams is the latest celebrity to latch onto ludicris, unsubstantiated conspiracy theories during the global pandemic. Last month, Woody Harrelson and MIA pushed another theory that suggested that 5G was the cause of the virus. The singer hasn't issued a statement, but perhaps a good place to start would be returning to his 1993 smash hit, "Please Forgive Me."

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