Vanilla Ice is back with a brand new mission… a fourth of July holiday weekend performance at a venue in Texas despite the fact Gov. Greg Abbott closed all bars in the state last week.
The “Ice Ice Baby” rapper promoted the event earlier this week with a post on his Instagram page, writing, “I can’t wait to get back to this. The 90s were the best. We didn’t have coronavirus, or cell phones, or computers. we had 5.0’s, blockbuster, Beavis and Butthead, Wayne’s world, Chris Tucker and Jackie Chan. And Mortal Kombat is still better than fortnight but we got out of the house, We danced, we invented house parties in the 90s. The last of the great decades.”
He defended his concert on Thursday morning, tweeting, “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.”
The show is scheduled to take place on July 3 at Emerald Point Bar & Grill in Austin. The venue is technically considered a restaurant, according to the Austin Chronicle, because it derives 51% of sales from food, meaning it is exempt from the order.
The reason Abbott closed bars down, by the by, is that Texas has seen a massive spike in COVID-19 cases in recent weeks, a direct result of decisions Abbott has made since the pandemic began. Most notably, Abbott expressly forbade local authorities from enforcing measures to contain the disease, such as wearing masks. And that was before the state started reopening.
As of this week, however, Houston in particular is at risk of having its ER facilities overwhelmed, but Austin is also getting hit hard. And on Wednesday Texas saw a record number of new reported cases.
Look, we agree that “Ice Ice Baby” is a pretty fun song, but we would urge fans to stop, collaborate and listen to health authorities who rightly keep pointing out that COVID-19 is no joke and could potentially cause years of health problems even if it doesn’t kill your brain like a poisonous mushroom. Will it ever stop? Yo, we don’t know, but if people don’t take steps to protect themselves it could definitely keep getting worse.
In other words, please be careful, Austinites, because the COVID don’t play.