Chase Rice Hit with Backlash After Joking About Having COVID-19 Symptoms to Promote New Single

Country singer Chase Rice is in hot water after he appeared to joke about having symptoms of COVID-19 in order to promote his new single.

On Sunday, the singer, 35, took to Twitter to announce the release of his song, "Drinkin' Beer. Talkin' God. Amen."

"Just lost my taste and smell. Weird," Rice said, appearing to refer to coronavirus symptoms. "Also, dropping a single at midnight."

In a follow-up tweet, the crooner clarified that he doesn't actually have the coronavirus, writing, "On a real note. Don't have covid. But I'm dropping a single tonight."

Rice went on to tease the single, which is a collaboration with Florida Georgia Line. (One of the two band's members, Tyler Hubbard, tested positive for COVID-19 last month.)

The singer wrote that he made the song "with 2 guys that I learned a lot from."

"Respect the hell out of @FLAGALine," he continued. "And 10 years after we started doing music together and lived together, we're at it again. Drinkin beer. Talkin God. Amen🤙🏼."

Rice was met with backlash over his apparent joke as many fans said it's in "bad taste" and "not funny" to making light of the pandemic.

"I've lost all my respect for you this year. Congrats. I'll be turning off the radio every time it comes on," a user wrote, while another added. "Really in bad taste to joke about Covid. Thought you had learned something since the concert incident this year. Guess not. Here's an idea: take all the earnings from this song and donate to Covid survivors or donate PPE to local hospitals. Do better, Covid is not a joke."

"I'm legitimately glad you're ok but it's NOT funny joking about having Covid. Especially to promote music. People are literally dying from it," another person wrote, before referring to Hubbard's diagnosis. "And Tyler might not find your joke funny either since he's actually HAD Covid."

The backlash marks the second time Rice has come under fire in recent months. Back in June, the country singer was slammed after he resumed touring and performed for thousands of fans at a concert in Tennessee despite the worsening pandemic.

According to TMZ at the time, Rice performed at Brushy Mountain State Penitentiary in Petros, Tennessee -- and while the 10,000-capacity space "drastically" reduced the number of concertgoers allowed in, footage from inside the show proved there was very little social distancing and barely any masks in sight.