CANADIAN SINGER BRYAN Adams has apologised over an online rant in which he blamed the Covid-19 pandemic on “bat eating”.

Adams attracted controversy after hitting out at the cancellation of his London shows this week, when he was due to appear at the Royal Albert Hall.

In an Instagram post, Adams hit out at “f***king bat-eating, wet market animal selling, virus making greedy bastards“.

He went on to say that “the whole world is now on hold, not to mention the thousands that have suffered or died from this virus”, admonishing the Chinese to “go vegan”.

But in subsequent comments, the Canadian issued an apology and retracted his claim.

“Apologies to any and all that took offence to my posting yesterday,” he said on Instagram.

“No excuse, I just wanted to have a rant about the horrible animal cruelty in these wet markets being the possible source of the virus, and promote veganism.”

He added: “I have love for all people and my thoughts are with everyone dealing with this pandemic around the world.”

After his initial comments, many interpreted Adams’ remarks as anti-Chinese.

“This is so irresponsible and so racist,” Amy Go of the Chinese Canadian National Council for Social Justice told AFP.

“He’s a Canadian idol and he’s fanning the flames of anti-Chinese racism, and contributing to an increase in hateful taunts and blatant (physical) attacks on Chinese and Asian people in Canada and around the world,” she said.

Wet markets sell fresh food and produce, including farmed animals and wildlife.

One such market in Wuhan in China was identified last week by the World Health Organization as having been a possible source or “amplifying setting” of the outbreak.

Adams later deleted his original tweet containing the message.

With reporting from - © AFP 2020