Lewis Capaldi has come under fire from disgruntled fans after he went ahead with his Aberdeen gig despite the coronavirus outbreak worsening.
The Scottish crooner performed to 11,000 gig-goers at P&J Live on Sunday evening, with his decision to go ahead with his performance labelled “irresponsible”.
His show comes days after the Scottish Government issued advice on cancelling mass gatherings of 500 people or more until the impact of COVID-19 had lessened substantially.
They explained the advice was to help ease pressure on emergency services – and not to stop the spread of COVID-19.
Lewis Capaldi performed to over 11,000 fans last night – despite the coronavirus worsening (Image: Redferns)
First minister Nicola Sturgeon said: “At a time when there is severe pressure on our fantastic emergency and public services as a result of the virus, it is only right that we seek to remove unnecessary burdens on frontline workers.
“By advising organisers not to hold large gatherings of 500 people or more in Scotland we are enabling services to prioritise their resources to where they are needed most.”
However, with the ban set to be implemented on Monday 16 March, Lewis decided to go ahead with his gig which saw over ten thousand fans packed into the stadium “like sardines”.
The gig took place 24-hours before Scotland’s mass gatherings ban is implemented (Image: Redferns)
Prior to the concert, one wrote: “11,500 people are expected to attend the Lewis Capaldi concert this evening at the P&J arena in Aberdeen. Irresponsible and complete madness.”
“All football suspended but 11k people allowed to go to Lewis Capaldi, packed in like sardines. This whole thing is embarrassing,” another fumed.
While a third wrote: “Lewis Capaldi proving to be extremely greedy and irresponsible. Rather than postponing and thinking about public health he’s going ahead with his s*** concert because he needs money that much!”
Fans labelled the star ‘irresponsible’ for going ahead with his performance (Image: Getty Images)
And acid-tongued Good Morning Britain host Piers Morgan also slammed the crooner for not pulling the plug on the performance.
Speaking on Monday’s episode, the TV host exclaimed: “‘LA has shut down all its bars, restaurants, gyms etc. But in Britain, you can go to any gym, any bar, any restaurant.
“Lewis Capaldi played in Scotland last night, we had the half marathon yesterday…
“What the hell are you doing going to pop concerts? It is nonsense, utter nonsense. If the government now says we’re going to stop all of this, what has changed from Thursday to today? In three days?”
A spokesperson for Lewis Capaldi said: “The final show of Lewis’s UK arena tour in Aberdeen on Sunday 15th March went ahead in full compliance with the advisory document on mass gatherings issued by the Scottish government at 1pm on the same day. The document states that the advice applies from Monday 16th March and is ‘not expected to have a significant impact on the spread of COVID-19, and this is not its purpose,’ but that it aims ‘to relieve pressure on public services, including emergency services.’ Security, first aid, medical and welfare teams were paid for by the organisers as normal and the venue had additional signage in place to highlight best practice on hygiene during the event. We’d like to thank everyone who came along to Aberdeen and the other tour dates for welcoming Lewis so warmly.”
Source: Celebrities - dailystar.co.uk
