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Rapper Busta Rhymes joined a number of celebrities who’ve shared their disapproval for public health measures, delivering an anti-mask rant at a recent in-person show in St. Louis.
“This is my second show in front of human life in the last 15 f*cking months,” the “Touch It” rapper says in a clip shared to social media. “COVID could such a d*ck,” he added, seemingly sharing the sentiments of many of us who’ve been impacted, directly or indirectly, by the COVID-19 pandemic.
The rapper goes on, though, slamming face masks and public health mandates made by the government. “All these little weird a*s government policies and mandates … suck a d*ck!” he yells to the crowd. “Stop trying to take our civil liberties away … No human being is supposed to tell you [that] you can’t even breathe freely! F*ck your mask.”
The rapper’s statements come as the US battles a fourth wave of COVID-19, this surge being prompted by the more transmissible Delta variant. Hospitals and medical staff are stretched as ICUs around the country reach capacity. One Mississippi hospital had to use part of its parking garage for incoming patients. A public library in Florida was converted into a field hospital as the virus surges across the state.
Both state’s Republican governors, like many of their constituents have politicized public health policies like mask wearing jeopardizing the health of millions, including the more than 94,000 children in the US currently hospitalized with the virus.
In Missouri, where Busta performed, the state marked more than 2,000 new cases overnight on Monday (August 23). At least 10,885 Missouri residents died from the virus, state-reported data shows.
As Busta noted, most of us have been in lockdown, away from loved ones and a sense of normalcy for nearly two years now, however the rapper’s stance ignores the reality of the devastation COVID-19 has caused, especially among Black Americans.
In the US, an estimated 630,000 people have died from COVID-19, with Black people dying twice the rate of white Americans.
Mask wearing and vaccination rates allowed the country to see lower rates of infection earlier this summer.
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