Canadian singer Bryan Adams is sorry about that.
The “Summer of ’69′” crooner walked back a social media rant on Tuesday that blamed “bat eating” people for spreading the coronavirus, after it was widely slammed for its racist undertones.
The drama started on Monday when Adams, 60, posted a clip of himself on Instagram singing his 1983 single “Cuts Like a Knife.”
In the caption he wrote how he was supposed to be performing at London’s Royal Albert Hall that evening, but because of “bat eating, wet market animal selling, virus making greedy b***ards, the whole world is now on hold, not to mention the thousands that have suffered or died from this virus.”
“My message to them other than ‘thanks a f***ing lot’ is go vegan,” Adams added.
His comments sparked immediate backlash online, with “Bryan Adams” trending on Twitter Tuesday.
“Looks like someone’s views on race are stuck in the summer of ’69,” one person tweeted.
One tweet in which he made the same comments has since been deleted, and he has disabled comments on his Instagram post.
Adams, known for his songs “Heaven,” “Summer of ’69” and “Please Forgive Me,” took to Instagram on Tuesday to apologize for his rant.
In a clip of Adams singing “Into the Fire,” he wrote in the caption, “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. I have love for all people and my thoughts are with everyone dealing with this pandemic around the world.”
Adams’ remarks, which many took to be directed at Chinese people, comes amid an increase in racist attacks against Asians and Asian-Americans. A study released last month showed that there was a rise in derogatory terms for Chinese people being used online.
CNN has reached out to a representative for Adams and Royal Albert Hall for comment but have not yet heard back. His residency at Royal Albert Hall appears to have been rescheduled for April 2021.
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