Vanilla Ice Cancels Fourth of July Concert in Texas Amid COVID-19 Concerns

Vanilla Ice has cancelled his Friday concert in Austin amid concerns over the coronavirus pandemic.

The about-face came only hours after he deleted a tweet posted Thursday morning that read, "I take the coronavirus serious. But we can't live in a bubble. I think at this point we all understand the severity of it. practice social distancing and wear a mask. This is an outside venue, Fourth of July on the lake with fireworks. Plenty of room for distancing."

The "Ice Ice Baby" rapper then shared, "Due to the increase in COVID-19 numbers in Austin we're gonna move the concert to a better date. We were hoping for better Coronavirus numbers by July but Unfortunately the numbers have increased quite a bit so for the safety and health of everyone we're going to stay home."

In the accompanying clip, he said he listened to his fans and "all the people" who let him know him that the COVID-19 numbers were "so crazy" in Austin.

"We want to make sure that everybody is safe," he added. "It turned into a big focal point about me and it's not about that. Happy Fourth of July. All the best everybody."

Vanilla Ice is clearly ready to go back to the 1990s, but he seems to be forgetting that it's currently 2020 ... and the country is in the middle of a nearly unchecked pandemic.

The "Ice Ice Baby" rapper has been promoting an upcoming Independence Day concert this Friday in Austin, Texas all week, with his latest two posts waxing nostalgic about his biggest decade on the charts and when he could draw the biggest crowds.

All this week, he's been sharing video of packed concert venues in anticipation of his show, saying, "I can't wait to get back to this."

His latest clip had an extra boost of nostalgia for '90s babies as a quick pan of the crowd and stage showed that Ice was up there with the live-action Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. If it's possible to be more '90s than that collabo -- well, it's just not, okay?

Dubbed the Independence Day Throwback Beach Party, the Austin Chronicle said that Ice is even able to pull off this show despite virtually all concerts being canceled due to the venue being technically a restaurant with an outdoor general admission area for live entertainment.

That means it can wiggle around restrictions on indoor seating or huge crowded concert venues even as Texas is one of the leading states for surging coronavirus cases. The state recorded 8,076 new cases Wednesday, a new record daily high.

That said, Entertainment Weekly reports the venue is only selling half of its available capacity -- in complinace with 50 percent capacity mandates for restaurants -- but that's still 2,500 tickets. Ice is set to be followed on Saturday by '90s boy group Color Me Badd. Does that mean '90s acts are immune to COVID-19?

For now, Ice is calling for his fans to bring their dancing shoes, neon colors, bikinis, Speedos and even TMNT gear -- but no mention of masks.