Smash Mouth Posts Hate Mail From Sturgis Backlash, as States Report Rally-Based COVID Spread
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Smash Mouth Posts Hate Mail From Sturgis Backlash, as States Report Rally-Based COVID Spread
August 26, 2020, 6:37 PM EDT
Hey there: you’re an all-star super-spreader. Or you might be if you attended the Sturgis Motorcycle Rally in South Dakota earlier this month, where bands including Smash Mouth performed for socially undistanced thousands at a time over the course of 10 days, at an event attended by hundreds of thousands in total.
According to the Associated Press, 103 cases directly related to the rally have been reported by the health departments in eight states — South Dakota, Minnesota , Wisconsin, Nebraska, Montana, North Dakota, Wyoming and Washington.
The band has not had much to say about Sturgis or responded to media requests since performing at the rally. However, in an Instagram post four days ago, the group did refer to the backlash, posting a photo of a smashed CD atop an angry letter, which left only selected words visible, like “kills,” “selfish” and “motherf—ers.” The group’s caption for the photo: “Fan mail.”
Commenters have glommed on to other Smash Mouth Instagram posts to let their feelings be known. Prior to the photo of the smashed CD they got in the mail, Smash Mouth put up a photo of a sign that indicated their support for liberal causes or beliefs, with phrases including “We believe Black lives matter… women’s rights are human rights… science is real.”
Some respondents weren’t having it. “‘Science is real.’ Epidemiology is a science too,” wrote one user. “I’m proud of this band for standing up for imperative social causes, but that doesn’t mean I can’t still be disappointed about Sturgis.” Wrote another: “Yeah but you had a concert without any social distancing and said f— COVID, so do you really believe that science is real.”
Among the other acts that played Sturgis, but may have felt less heat over it: Quiet Riot, Bone Thugs N Harmony, Kenny Wayne Shepard, Buckcherry, Trapt, Molly Hatchet, Night Ranger, Colt Ford, Lit, Reverend Horton Heat, Jackyl, 38 Special and Drowning Pool. A ZZ Top tribute band called ZZ3 played after ZZ Top itself dropped out. Also canceling prior to the rally were Willie Nelson and Lynyrd Skynyrd.
Proponents of the gathering may contend that just over a hundred cases officially logged by state health departments so far as tied to the Sturgis rally is a fairly small amount for a gathering that South Dakota’s transportation department says drew 460,000 vehicles. But some experts say the spread from the August 7-16 rally has just begun to be felt, and tracked.
“It’s very likely that we will see more transmission,” said Kris Ehresmann, the infectious disease director for the Minnesota Department of Health, in a call with reporters. An official with the department told CBS News that 35 cases had been reported in Minnesota alone among residents who had traveled to Sturgis.
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Commenters have glommed on to other Smash Mouth Instagram posts to let their feelings be known. Prior to the photo of the smashed CD they got in the mail, Smash Mouth put up a photo of a sign that indicated their support for liberal causes or beliefs, with phrases including “We believe Black lives matter… women’s rights are human rights… science is real.”
Some respondents weren’t having it. “‘Science is real.’ Epidemiology is a science too,” wrote one user. “I’m proud of this band for standing up for imperative social causes, but that doesn’t mean I can’t still be disappointed about Sturgis.” Wrote another: “Yeah but you had a concert without any social distancing and said f— COVID, so do you really believe that science is real.”
Proponents of the gathering may contend that just over a hundred cases officially logged by state health departments so far as tied to the Sturgis rally is a fairly small amount for a gathering that South Dakota’s transportation department says drew 460,000 vehicles. But some experts say the spread from the August 7-16 rally has just begun to be felt, and tracked.
Among the other acts that played Sturgis, but may have felt less heat over it: Quiet Riot, Bone Thugs N Harmony, Kenny Wayne Shepard, Buckcherry, Trapt, Molly Hatchet, Night Ranger, Colt Ford, Lit, Reverend Horton Heat, Jackyl, 38 Special and Drowning Pool. A ZZ Top tribute band called ZZ3 played after ZZ Top itself dropped out. Also canceling prior to the rally were Willie Nelson and Lynyrd Skynyrd.
Hard to believe only Smashmouth is getting heat when all those other bands played too. A lot of bands no one has heard from in a while. Must be desperate for money.
That has to be the reason Kenny Wayne Shepard and 38 Special played. I liked those bands, too
I liked 38 Special too.
My cousin Willie canceled...
I always knew he was smart.
Runs in the family.
Let's wait. This could be huge... or a dud. We simply do not know enough about propagation.
No, I won't wait.
We know that.
Only 103? Really? Not thousands, or tens of thousands. Hell the way the media and left lost their minds it should have been all of them. Just 103.
Now if only the media and the left cared as much about Covid 19 being spread by their not so peaceful protesters, who have been at it since May.
"Let's wait. This could be huge... or a dud. We simply do not know enough about propagation."
103 is just the beginning.
I looked at the most recent numbers, for a seed I just put up.
It look very likely that the US is not reporting all its new cases. So... we're flying blind.
Just a dud. There's simply no way it can be tracked accurately
That's probably true. Which is pretty sad...
If you're right, then we will never know the extent of Sturgis's consequences... but those consequences will still be real. Ignorance is not good.
We don't know how long this pandemic will last.
If all goes well, we could be getting back to "normal" in a few months. If things (there are LOTS of things that could go wrong) don't go so well... we could find ourselves two years from now, trying to organize an existence where Covid-19 is a permanent part of our lives.
Seen from today, one is as likely as the other. The more information we collect, the sooner we'll know the future. Ignorance is never good.
103 so far. This time I agree with Bob.
Attendance for the 2020 Sturgis rally has been estimated at 366,000 . The Sturgis rally is pretty much an outdoor event; the town is too small to accommodate 366,000 people. And, from reporting, the crowd definitely didn't practice social distancing.
The reported cases linked to the Sturgis rally are 103? Talk about news that isn't.
The key word being "reported".
What are we learning? Perhaps that Sturgis was innocuous. Perhaps that our information is inadequate to the point of being misleading.
Wait.....