Bryan Adams apologizes for racist rant

Canadian rock musician Bryan Adams has apologized for his racist social media rant about the cancellation of his London shows.

“Apologies to any and all that took offence (sic) to my posting yesterday,” Adams, a longtime animalrights activist and vegan, wrote in an Instagram post on Tuesday. “No excuse, I just wanted to have a rant about the horrible animal cruelty in these wet-markets being the possible source of the virus, and promote veganism.”

On Monday, Adams posted a video on Instagram accompanied by an expletive-laden caption blaming “bat eating, wet market animal selling, virus making greedy bastards” for the coronavirus outbreak that has put “the whole world … on hold,” including his concerts. Adams’ string of pop hits includes “Summer of ‘69,” “Heaven” and “Have You Ever Really Loved a Woman?”

Critics were quick to point out the racist nature of his comments — understood to be directed at Chinese people — and that they come at a time when anti-Asian and anti-Asian American sentiment and hate crimes have surged in response to the global COVID-19 crisis.

YouTube channel from today to Monday. The album will be available for purchase digitally for the first time on Friday.

But Purple aficionados may already have it – because it was issued as a VHS and laserdisc (remember those?) in 1985, and it was included as a DVD in the deluxe reissue of “Purple Rain” in 2017.

Maybe the best thing about this digital release is Thursday’s pre-party when Prince & the Revolution drummer Bobby Z will talk about the tour at 6 p.m. in a live Q&A.

The free livestream begins at 8 p.m. today and goes until 12:59 a.m. Monday.

The Prince Estate certainly has a wealth of concert footage that could be released.

Don’t be surprised if another deluxe reissue of one of Prince’s prized studio albums arrives later this year.