Marc Broussard Spars Online Over Vaccinations for Concerts

Acadiana's old-souled, velvet-voiced crooner Marc Broussard got into a sparring match online with another artist over vaccinations for people attending concerts.

The back-and-forth started when Jason Isbell, a four-time Grammy winner and former member of Drive-By Truckers re-Tweeted ACL Live's parameters for admission to Isbell's upcoming Austin shows:

The text of the Tweet reads:

At the request of the artist, there are new safety requirements for all shows 8/7-9. Masks are required for entry; attendees must be fully vaccinated against COVID-19 or have tested negative within 72 hrs. - ACL Live via Twitter

The image with the Tweet goes on to specify that if you are attending multiple shows, you must prove vaccination or provide a negative test result each night. The Tweet also gives information about free vaccinations and testing for residents of Austin, Texas, where the shows are being held.

For those who "are unable to adhere to these testing and vaccination requirements" and had already purchased their tickets, a full refund is being offered.

In response to the news that Jason Isbell, who has been a proponent of the coronavirus vaccination, masking, and social distancing throughout the pandemic, Marc Broussard Tweeted that he felt the requirements were "elitist".

Marc Broussard admits that he has never met Jason Isbell, but had assumed (correctly) that Isbell "was a blue collar type of guy". Then he referred to the conditions of Isbell's concert admission as "elitist".

"The unclean may not attend. The poor may not attend... Who knew Jason was so bourgois?... this is some elitist ish here, fella." - Marc Broussard via Twitter

That opened the gates.

If you haven't noticed, there is a divide in this country right now: the vaxxers, and the anti-vaxxers. (For the sake of this conversation, let's leave the "medically unable to receive the vaccine" people out of it.) That divide also seems to follow a political line: conservatives are less likely to be vaccinated, and liberals are more likely to be vaccinated, according to the Kaiser Family Foundation.

Marc, being from a very conservative South Louisiana, and Isbell, who lives in the moderately liberal city of Nashville, Tennessee, probably don't see many things eye-to-eye, politically.

Marc goes on to defend his comments by saying that he has many fans who can not afford "the risks associated with" vaccines or a positive test result.

Some people side with Marc on this, saying that having to take time off or even not feeling 100% could mean lost time and wages.

Others see Marc's post as counter-productive to getting the virus under control and also accuse him of saying it's okay for someone who is experiencing symptoms to not get tested so as to not lose time at work.

Just for the record: it is NOT okay to continue to expose others when you have symptoms. It's. Just. Not.

Maybe that wasn't what Marc was trying to say; was he was just making the point that IF someone tests positive, they would be at risk of losing wages? Maybe it was worded in a way that people took it as him saying it was okay to forgo a test so as to not miss work.

Marc then Tweets that people are "mischaracterizing" what he was trying to convey.

It seems that many people misunderstood what Marc was trying to get across.

There weren't many people that agreed with Marc's Tweet (could it be because many conservatives left Twitter after President Trump's ban?), but there were a few:

Some of those who disagreed with Marc did so with grace:

Isbell has since deleted his responses to Marc (as far as I could see), but we were able to screenshot his initial response, and it was brutal:

I'm sorry to see this back-and-forth taking place between two immensely talented singer-songwriters. What I would prefer to see is these two coming together, settling their differences, and coming up with some great new music to share with us.