Bryan Adams Apologizes for Controversial Coronavirus Rant About China

Singer Bryan Adams recently came under fire for his controversial comments regarding the coronavirus crisis. About a day after his words made headlines, Adams has issued an apology for what he had to say about the coronavirus and the global health pandemic that is currently occurring, as PEOPLE reported. In the singer’s message, which he posted on Instagram, he said that there was “no excuse” for what he said but noted that he wanted to shed light on what he claimed was a “possible source of the virus.”

This whole matter began on Monday when Adams took to Instagram to address the fact that he was supposed to be beginning his gig at the Royal Albert Hall (He postponed his concert to April 2021 due to the coronavirus crisis). He posted a performance of his 1983 track “Cut Like a Knife” and captioned the video with a message about the pandemic. In his caption, he lamented the fact that he was unable to perform live because of the current state of the world. He even used some insensitive language directed towards Chinese people and referenced several unproven theories regarding the origin of the coronavirus. His comments tied back to several unverified theories, including one that claims that the virus originated after someone consumed a bat and another, which has been bolstered by President Donald Trump, that claims Chinese labs developed the coronavirus.

“Tonight was supposed to be the beginning of a tenancy of gigs at the @royalalberthall, but thanks to some f—ing bat eating, wet market animal selling, virus making greedy bastards, the whole world is now on hold, not to mention the thousands that have suffered or died from this virus,” Adams wrote. Although the post has garnered a great deal of backlash due to his inflammatory statements, the post remains up as of Tuesday afternoon. Although, he has since disabled comments on the post.

On Tuesday, he did issue an apology for his caption in a separate Instagram post. The singer directed his apology to anyone who took offense to what he had to say in his previous post. While he wrote that there was no excuse for what he had to say, he remained steadfast in his opposition to wet-markets, which he said are a “possible source of the virus” (This theory is unproven.). Adams wrote, “Apologies to any and all that took offence to my posting yesterday. 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.” He ended his message with, “I have love for all people and my thoughts are with everyone dealing with this pandemic around the world.”