Sammy Hagar Clarifies Comments That He’d Rather “Get Sick and Die” Than See Economy Shut Down Again
Sammy Hagar caught some flack earlier this week for comments he recently gave to Rolling Stone, in which he said he’d rather “get sick and die” from the coronavirus than see the economy shut down again, seemingly disregarding the health of his band, his fans and himself in the name of rock n’ roll. He’s now walked back those comments a bit, saying the interview was conducted on May 8 when things were very different, this time expressing a more cautious, but still slightly ignorant, tone.
The original quote from May, which Rolling Stone ran last week, reads as follows:
“I’ll be comfortable playing a show before there’s a vaccine, if it’s declining and seems to be going away. I’m going to make a radical statement here. This is hard to say without stirring somebody up, but truthfully, I’d rather personally get sick and even die, if that’s what it takes. We have to save the world and this country from this economic thing that’s going to kill more people in the long run. I would rather see everyone go back to work. If some of us have to sacrifice on that, OK. I will die for my children and my grandchildren to have a life anywhere close to the life that I had in this wonderful country. That’s just the way that I feel about it. I’m not going to go around spreading the disease. But there may be a time where we have to sacrifice. I mean, how many people die on the Earth every day? I have no idea. I’m sorry to say it, but we all gotta die, man.”
Here’s the clarification that Sammy released yesterday via Facebook:
“Hey, Sammy here. Earlier in the week Rolling Stone ran a compilation piece from their Quarantine Q&A series. I did that interview a month and a half ago, things change very fast right now, so I wanted to clarify and put a few things into context now.
“I did that interview May 8th when we were already several weeks into the stay-at-home, which my family and I took very seriously, and things were starting to look up, the curve was beginning flattening. So when I was asked if I’d be comfortable enough to get back onstage before a vaccine was out, I was cautiously optimistic. I said, ‘Yeah, not too soon. I want to make sure it’s not escalating. When it’s declining and seems to be going away.’
“Big picture, it’s about getting back to work in a safe and responsible way and getting this economy rolling again. I will do my part. I stand by that. I employ 200 people directly and when we tour even more. Like everything today, it’s a watch and see over the next few months but we remain cautiously optimistic that with the right improvements and safety measures in place, we might be able to play shows this year. That said, as things change, for the better or worse, we will appropriately adjust our plans.”
Much better — at least he doesn’t come off like a coronavirus conspiracy theorist now. That said, I find even the suggestion that he’ll be touring again this year unrealistic… although you never know. I also bristle at the idea that Sammy thinks he has “do his part” to get the economy rolling again; that is not up to him, nor does it depend on him! Boomers gonna boomer, I guess.
[via Metal Injection]
