Musicians have been hit hard as the coronavirus outbreak forces social distancing around the nation — especially those who rely heavily on touring income — and Zac Brown is calling out those who still aren’t taking the COVID-19 threat seriously.
Posting a tearful clip to social media Wednesday (March 18), the Grammy winning front man of the Zac Brown Band admitted he’s had to let go of “90 percent” of his touring crew, illustrating just how quickly the fallout from his postponed 2020 Owl Tour arrived. Still emotional over what he called “a hard day,” Brown explained the people he had to cut had done their jobs well — and he had a message for people still going about their normal lives, seen partying at spring break or just refusing to believe the risk is real.
“To the people who are out partying or sitting on beaches, and the people that don’t care if they get this virus or bring it home to their grandparents, and maybe kill their grandparents or complicate their lives: The longer that America doesn’t take this seriously and doesn’t stay in and try to contain this, the longer that everyone will be without jobs,” he says. “The longer will be pushing into this recession that we’re all about to enter into.”
Brown goes on to blame the country’s leadership for not preparing its citizens, saying that it’s clear America is less protected and ready for the outbreak than other countries.
“We’re late to the game,” he says. “I’m pretty ashamed of the way that our leadership has handled all of this. I’m pretty ashamed of a lot of things. We can’t rely on our government to tell people what they need to do.”
The hit maker wraps up by saying he loves to play music, and it can still be done via video chat, but implores viewers that the time is now to commit to social distancing.
“If we’re going to get back to doing whatever we were doing before this hit, everyone’s got to take this seriously,” he says.
