Zac Brown gets emotional while sharing that he had to ‘let go’ most of his crew

Zac Brown Band performs at Pandora Live @ Tabernacle Super Bowl 2019. Brown got emotional online talking about the effect of the coronavirus on his crew and touring. Photo: Ryan Fleisher/Special to the AJC

Zac Brown Band performs at Pandora Live @ Tabernacle Super Bowl 2019. Brown got emotional online talking about the effect of the coronavirus on his crew and touring. Photo: Ryan Fleisher/Special to the AJC

An emotional Zac Brown hit social media to share with fans that he had to “let go” about 90 percent of his road crew.

The Atlanta-based Brown and the rest of his band announced last week that they would postpone the spring leg of "The Owl" tour due to coronavirus concerns, and the fallout has already affected his inner circle.

Calling his crew, “My family, the people I travel with and grew my business with, the people I high-five on the way out to the stage,” Brown held back tears as he shared a message “to people who aren’t taking this seriously and are out partying and sitting on beaches who don’t care if they get this virus or bring it home and maybe kill their grandparents.”

An impassioned Brown continued (full video below): “The longer that America doesn’t take this seriously and doesn’t stay in and try to contain this, the longer everyone is going to be out of jobs and be pushed into this recession we’re about to enter into…You need to wake up, stay indoors and try to socially distance…America can heal from this and celebrate with music and song, but the sooner we take action on this and don’t wait on our government to tell us that this was a serious issue…we’re late to the game. I’m pretty ashamed at the way our leadership has handled this, I’m pretty ashamed of a lot of things. We can’t rely on our government to tell our people what to do…we have to look out for the future of our all jobs and the economy and each other. If we’re gonna heal from this, everyone’s gotta take this seriously.”

The Zac Brown Band is scheduled to return to the road in late May for a tour dubbed, "Roar with the Lions." The band has an Aug. 7 date at Truist Park. 

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