Bryan Adams is making news again and it’s not flattering.
In 2017, the Canadian BDS Coalition launched the UNPLUG FROM APARTHEID CAMPAIGN. Roger Waters, Checkpoint 303 and about 25 other artists all asked Adams to cancel his tour dates in Israel. Boycott from Within and many other groups and indviduals asked Adams to cancel. Information pickets happening Toronto, and other locations around the world including at several of Adam’s European concert stops.
Adams went ahead and played in Tel Aviv and Jersualem in December 2017 despite these requests and the huge cultural boycott campaign asking him not to travel there.
Initial Adams said he would meet with the Coalition, but then went silent. In the end he did not respond to any of the calls, not even the final request to be in touch with Boycott from Within to learn more.
Back in 2014 he did speak out against Israel’s attack on Gaza, but totally ignored the UNPLUG call when this was raised.
However, Adams has shown that he has a political conscience in the past. In 2016 he cancelled a Mississippi tour date because of the state’s anti-LGBT laws.
The cancelling of the Mississippi concert and the tweet re Gaza in 2014–these are both admirable acts. However, one has to ask, why did Adams go ahead play in Israel in 2017? We will have to continue to wonder as Adams never responded to those questions when the UNPLUG FROM APARTHEID campaign asked him in 2017.
These are facts that Adams cannot ignore.
Now, in 2020 Adams is in the news again for racist, xenophobic comments about China and COVID 19 that he posted on his web site www.bryanadams.com.
In the same post Adams then encouraged people to become vegans. Perhaps Adams would like to let Vibe Israel know that vegan-washing is not cool!
Adams had recently announced some of his upcoming concert dates had been postponed until October 2020 because of COVID-19. Let’s hope that gives him some time to think about why his 2017 behaviour was that of a PEP–progressive except Palestine. Although his latest move leaves us wondering about the label progressive at all.
There was great criticism of his comments and although he eventually did apologize, his reasoning that he only meant to promote veganism is weak.
One of the Canadian BDS Coalition members said “I am a vegetarian who often eats vegan and I also support justice for Palestine and oppose the 53 year occupation. Adams’ comments about China were still up on his web site the last time I checked. Those who haven’t seen them should visit the site and leave comments.”
Check out the 2017 UNPLUG FROM APARTHEID CAMPAIGN