Lewis Capaldi is hitting back at critics after deciding to go ahead with his planned concert over the weekend amid the coronavirus pandemic.
As of Monday Scotland ordered a temporary ban of mass gatherings of more than 500 people, as the number of UK cases of coronavirus increased to 1,372. A spokesperson for Lewis said that the show didn’t break any laws.
“The final show of Lewis’s UK arena tour in Aberdeen on Sunday March 15 went ahead in full compliance with the advisory document on mass gatherings issued by the Scottish government at 1pm on the same day,” a spokesman said. That document bans gatherings of more than 500 people, but as the spokesperson points out, the rule was meant to “to relieve pressure on public services, including emergency services,” rather than prevent the spread of the coronavirus.
“Security, first aid, medical and welfare teams were paid for by the organizers as normal and the venue had additional signage in place to highlight best practice on hygiene during the event,” he added.
Many social media users took to Twitter to complain about the Capaldi gig, which had a crowd of 11,000.
“All football suspended but 11k people allowed to go to Lewis Capaldi, packed in like sardines. This whole thing is embarrassing,” one blasted.
One person called Capaldi “irresponsible” for going ahead with the show, tweeting: “Lewis Capaldi proving to be extremely greedy and irresponsible. Rather than postponing and thinking about public health he’s going ahead with his sh*t concert because he needs money that much!”