Country singer Chase Rice is under fire for holding a large concert in Tennessee on Saturday night where fans went maskless and neglected to social distance.
Hundreds, if not thousands, of people watched Rice perform at the Brushy Mountain State Penitentiary — a former prison turned museum and concert venue — in Petros, about 150 miles from Nashville.
Chase Rice captured the crowd in his own Instagram story, writing “We back” as he panned the camera across the raucous crowd.
Nobody in the footage appeared to be wearing a mask and the fans were standing shoulder-to-shoulder.
The re-imagined Brushy Mountain State Penitentiary reopened May 1, and, according to their website, said they “will be observing social distancing guidelines.”
Fellow country singer, Kelsea Ballerini, on Sunday blasted Rice’s decision to play the show.
“Imagine being selfish enough to put thousands of people’s health at risk, not to mention the potential ripple effect, and play a NORMAL country concert right now,” she wrote on Twitter.
“@ChaseRiceMusic, We all want (and need) to tour. We just care about our fans and their families enough to wait.”
Another country singer-songwriter, Mickey Guyton, tweeted: “An absolute selfish act. Shame on him.”
Rice’s concert came a day after Tennessee tallied its highest daily increase in coronavirus cases, 1,410, The Tennessean reported.
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