Vanilla Ice Cancels July 4th Concert In Texas After COVID-19 Backlash

Vanilla Ice has canceled his annual Independence Day Throwback Beach Party on the Lake Travis reservoir outside of Austin, Texas. The rap star made the Twitter announcement on Thursday for his Friday concert as COVID-19 numbers continue to rise in Texas and after fans personally attacked his decision to hold the concert.

On Wednesday, Travis County, where the party was scheduled to be held, reported 597 new COVID-19 infections. This number is around a 700% increase from June 1, when the town reported only 88 total new cases. Texas overall saw more than 8,000 new cases on Wednesday.

In his announcement video, Vanilla Ice said, “I didn’t know the numbers were so crazy in Austin.” He captioned his tweet, “Due to the increase in COVID-19 numbers in Austin we’re gonna move the concert to a better date. We were hoping for better Coronavirus numbers in July but Unfortunately the numbers have increased quite a bit so for the safety and health of everyone we’re going to stay home.”