Corey Taylor Blames ‘Selfish People’ at Concerts for His COVID-19 Infection
Slipknot vocalist Corey Taylor recently put the blame for his COVID-19 infection on those he said were "selfish people" whom he surmised attended his summer solo concerts without being vaccinated, masked or properly socially distanced, or a combination of those factors.
The musician opined as much during an Aug. 26 virtual appearance as part of GalaxyCon, a comic book, anime and sci-fi convention. On Aug. 20, Taylor confirmed he tested positive for COVID-19 in a video message apologizing for his cancelation at that month's Astronomicon. Subsequent updates showed Taylor "doing well" and had him suggesting people on the fence about COVID vaccination take the shot.
Watch the video down toward the bottom of this post.
Speaking to Billy D for GalaxyCon, Taylor now says he "just tested negative," adding, "I'm making plans to go home tomorrow. I got stuck in Denver — this whole time, I've been stuck in a fuckin' hotel room."
Looking back over his solo shows this year, the singer explains, "I always try to keep my mask up the entire time [offstage]. You try to trust that people are vaccinated, or they're masking up and social distancing, or at least testing negative before they go to something like that. And sometimes you just run into those selfish people that don't care about that. I think that's what happened to me — somebody came to one of my shows and was in the audience sick and probably got several people sick."
Taylor's summer CMFT tour is wrapped for now. His GalaxyCon chat came after he canceled a physical appearance at the convention in Raleigh, N.C., earlier this month. Slipknot are due to hit the road starting in September on the U.S. Knotfest Roadshow.
In addition to Taylor, other musicians are also coming up against COVID. Over the past month, Jonathan Davis (Slipknot), Bruce Dickinson (Iron Maiden), Sean Killian (Vio-Lence), Sebastian Bach (ex-Skid Row) and members of Tesla and Lynyrd Skynyrd all revealed they'd tested positive for the contagious disease that's led to a worldwide pandemic. Ex-Trouble frontman Eric Wagner died of COVID pneumonia last week (Aug. 22). Several bands have had to cancel or postpone shows while touring this summer.
Vaccination efforts are ongoing; 52 percent total in the U.S. are fully vaccinated as of Aug. 29. But with an uptick of infections across the country, many upcoming concerts and fests seem questionable.