At a time where coronavirus panic has caused travel restrictions, closed schools, music festival cancelations and sport season suspensions, Lupe Fiasco hopped on Instagram to share some calming thoughts about the growing pandemic.
“In the midst all this going on, just remember that the coronavirus is you,” he said on Thursday (March 12). “What I mean when I say this is, coronavirus] doesn’t make you panic, it doesn’t drive you crazy, it doesn’t push you to do extreme things. It makes you sick, but it shouldn’t drive you to panic, it shouldn’t drive you to overreact. It shouldn’t’ drive you to racism, it shouldn’t drive you to bullying, it shouldn’t drive you to priteering and price-gouging and all these other things that you see — that’s human nature.”
Despite growing concern over the pandemic, Lupe urged his followers to maintain “discipline” instead overreacting.
“Remember that corona is what you make it,” he continued. “If you make it a crazy, panic-filled, fear-driven thing, then that is what it will be. The disease isn’t just the disease itself, it’s also the reaction to the disease, and for most us, that’s] what we will be experiencing.”
Amidst the ongoing pandemic-related event cancelations, Lupe also informed his fans that he’ll be postponing his upcoming shows in Cleveland and Seatle, which were set to take place this weekend (March 14-15), as well as an April 4 show in San Francisco.
He left his followers with a final note: “Don’t let this get to the point where you start doing crazy things … Be good and look out for each other.”
Lupe’s Cleveland show has been rescheduled to June 13, with the Seattle show now taking place on June 21. According to his Twitter, original tickets will be honored at the new dates and refunds are available for those who are unable to attend.
According to CBS News, there are over 126,000 cases coronavirus worldwide reported so far, with Italy’s death toll rising to over 1,000 on Thursday afternoon (March 12).