It appears as if concertgoers who want to see punk bands Teenage Bottlerocket, MakWar, and Rutterkin next month in St. Petersburg, Florida are being asked to pay an entrance fee of $18, but only if they are fully vaccinated. In addition, unvaccinated concertgoers will also be allowed to attend the concert, they just would have to pay a little more—$999.99 per ticket!
This COVID price gouging.
Former CIA analyst, political commentator, and radio show host Buck Sexton tweeted the allegation which has been confirmed to be true by local news outlets.
The could be perceived by many as a form of extorting perspective concert attendees into getting vaccinated just to attend, but organizers don't see it that way.
“The way he (the promoter) kind of described it to me is he was like it’s like Krispy Kreme or Dunkin donuts or whatever giving you a free donut or a discount if you show your vaccination card,” said Teenage Bottlerocket Bass Player Miguel Chen.
“We’ve gotten a lot of hate mail. A lot of very angry people,” Chen said. “And I think a lot of people boycotting our shows who had never heard of our band or would never come to our show to begin with.
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, who has said that mask mandates were "totally off the table," has opposed mask mandates since the pandemic first broke out, infuriated Florida Democrats who were insisting that he sign a mandatory mask edict.
Gov. DeSantis recently said that he would grant clemency to any facing prosecution and charged for refusing to wear a mask, and has also outlawed vaccine passports.
Florida State Rep. Anthony Sabatini had some choice words for one of the punk bands, referring to them as a "C-list" band.
“No one wants to see this irrelevant, terrible C-list punk band—even less now that they are interfering with people’s medical freedom and privacy," stated Rep. Sabatini.
One of Sabatini's colleagus in the Florida Senate, Senator Shevrin Jones (D), has a different take on the issue, and believes that promoter of the event is only tryong to "encourage Floridians to get vaccinated."
“Safety and awareness is important, and if the promoter for this concert feels that this is his contribution to encourage Floridians to get vaccinated, then so be it. They are not turning anyone away, they are just asking that you show proof that you have been vaccinated. The only way we are going to truly get out of this is we are all going to have to do our part and encourage others to do theirs, by any means necessary,"said Sen. Jones in a statement to The Floridian.
There is a pretty good chance that unvaccinated concertgoers are going to pass on this event.
