Vanilla Ice has canceled his annual Independence Day Throwback Beach Party on the Lake Travis reservoir outside of Austin, Texas. The rap star made the Twitter announcement on Thursday for his Friday concert as COVID-19 numbers continue to rise in Texas and after fans personally attacked his decision to hold the concert.
On Wednesday, Travis County, where the party was scheduled to be held, reported 597 new COVID-19 infections. This number is around a 700% increase from June 1, when the town reported only 88 total new cases. Texas overall saw more than 8,000 new cases on Wednesday.
In his announcement video, Vanilla Ice said, “I didn’t know the numbers were so crazy in Austin.” He captioned his tweet, “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 in July but Unfortunately the numbers have increased quite a bit so for the safety and health of everyone we’re going to stay home.”
Vanilla Ice received a lot of backlash for planning to hold the annual party. Just four hours before announcing the cancelation, he was encouraging the event to occur as planned since the venue was going to operate at 50% capacity. The party would have also required attendees to wear masks and have their temperature checks upon entry.
In a since-deleted tweet, the singer said, “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.”
Rudy Koski, a reporter for Austin TV news, tweeted, “Vanilla Ice just called the owner of Emerald Point Bar & Grill and told him that he is pulling out of Friday’s Show- event canceled due to blow back on capacity dispute with TRAVIS Co.”
