The Country Community Calls Out Chase Rice For Pandemic Concert

The Country Community Calls Out Chase Rice For Pandemic Concert

The country music community is turning to social media to call out fellow country singer Chase Rice after he performed a jam-packed concert over the weekend.

On Saturday (June 27), Rice shared footage on his Instagram Story taken while on stage at the Brushy Mountain State Penitentiary in Petros, Tennessee. "We back 😎," he captioned the video which showed a large crowd cheering in close proximity and without masks.

The video quickly went viral on Twitter leading public figures from the country community like Kelsea Ballerini, Mickey Guyton, Bobby Bones and more to speak out.

"Imagine being selfish enough to put thousands of people’s health at risk, not to mention the potential ripple effect, and play a NORMAL country concert right now," Ballerini tweeted. "@ChaseRiceMusic, We all want (and need) to tour. We just care about our fans and their families enough to wait. 🤷🏼‍♀️"

Guyton responded to Ballerini's post writing, "An absolute selfish act. Shame on him." On her own page she also retweeted the video writing, "This is happening in Tennessee where cases are spiking y'all. Jesus help us." She added, "I'm sick to my stomach."

Bobby Bones also shared his thoughts on the viral video writing, "Aside from the obvious... probably also heavy liability here. Just talked to two different attorneys about this."

Rice has yet to comment following the backlash he's received since the show. However, the VP of Brushy Mountain Group, Brian May, has released an official statement.

"All local requirements were abided by for the recent concert, and numerous precautions were taken," May said. "We drastically reduced our maximum venue capacity of 10,000 to 4,000 maximum capacity (lower than the state’s advisement of 50%) with less than 1,000 (954 tickets sold with 809 tickets scanned) in attendance Saturday night providing ample space in the outdoor lawn area for fans to spread out to their own comfort level."

The company added that all fans were given temperature checks prior to entering the venue, which also provided free hand sanitizer. All vendors and staff were advised to wear masks and gloves when interacting with guests.

In the statement May did go on to acknowledge that their social distancing plan didn't go as they'd hoped. "We were unable to further enforce the physical distancing recommended in the signage posted across the property and are looking into future alternative scenarios that further protect the attendees, artists and their crews and our employees," he said. "We are reevaluating the series from the top to bottom- from implementing further safety measures, to adding stanchions, to converting the space to drive-in style concerts, to postponing shows."

Photo: Getty Images


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