The Chainsmokers played at a charity concert taking place in the Hamptons this weekend and it turns out it may have not been a good idea, who would have thought?
Andrew Taggart of The Chainsmokers performed during the ‘Safe & Sound’ Drive-In Concert Fundraiser Presented by JAJA Tequila and In The Know Experiences In Partnership with Bumble at Nova’s Ark Project on July 25, 2020 in Water Mill, NY.
The plan was to have the crowd socially distance on the 100-acre venue, and it seems there was an effort to keep people apart, but there’s a heck of a lot of people in that area. There were temperature checks before gaining admission, and face masks were even provided gratis. There was also plenty of hand sanitizer, so precautions were in place. However from videos taking at the event, masks do not look like commonplace.
Profits from the event went to No Kid Hungry, Southampton Fresh Air Home, and the Children’s Medical Fund of New York. The Chainsmokers have been quiet since the start of this year, working on their next project. They broke their silence with this show likely as they’re associated with the organisers and the sponsoring Tequila.
The event, which has since been blasted on social media, has now caught the eyes of officials – even NY Governor Andrew Cuomo. “We have no tolerance for the illegal & reckless endangerment of public health,” Cuomo tweeted.
While it is great that a huge sum of money was raised for charity, events such as these play a large part in further pushing back real events becoming a reality again. The more we stay inside, away from people, the quicker we’ll be partying for real.
Event organisers In the Know Experiences and Invisible Noise provided the following statement to Billboard.
When we decided to produce this Drive-In Concert Fundraiser, our goal was to bring some joy into people’s lives during these difficult times, and do it in the safest possible environment. We also wanted to give back to these important charities, create awareness for these local businesses and provide work to over 350 people who have been unemployed as a result of the pandemic.
The video that everyone is talking about was taken from an angle that doesn’t properly convey how careful we were to follow the guidelines created by the CDC. We did everything in our power to enforce New York’s social distancing guidelines and collaborated with all state and local health officials to keep everyone safe.
Upon arrival, individuals within each car had their temperatures taken and were also provided complimentary face masks before driving to their designated 20′ x 20′ spot. Guests were also instructed that they would not be allowed to leave their designed spots for any reason other than to use the restroom facilities. Announcements and reminders were made every 30 minutes from the main stage, and security guards regularly patrolled the area to encourage mask wearing and promote social distancing guidelines.
We followed all proper and current protocol, including spacing each spot more than six feet apart, positioning sanitizing stations throughout the open grounds, temperature checks for all attendees, sanitization of restrooms every 10 minutes, local security enforcing guests to wear their masks both in and out of their designated areas, contact tracing, clearly marked parking zones, as well as providing complimentary face masks upon arrival.
