Austin, TX – The surviving members of the Beastie Boys — Mike “Mike D” Diamond and Adam “Ad-Rock” Horvitz — have been forced to pull of Austin’s annual South By Southwest music festival due to the coronavirus.
The two Hip Hop pioneers were scheduled to participate in the film portion of the event to discuss the forthcoming Spike Jonze-directed documentary Beastie Boys Story.
Prince of Darkness Ozzy Osbourne, Nine Inch Nails’ frontman Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross are also bowing out this year in order to stay healthy. Reznor and Ross were originally scheduled to deliver the keynote speech on HBO’s Watchmen series.
We’re sorry we won’t be giving our Watchmen keynote at SXSW this year (because we had some surprises in store!) However, it was the right decision. We will see you soon – be safe and smart.
-T+Ahttps://t.co/LTCW1GsZzb— nine inch nails (@nineinchnails) March 5, 2020
Beastie Boys, Reznor and Ross are pulling out of SXSW by default. WarnerMedia, the company that owns HBO withdrew from the festival, while Apple — which is releasing Beastie Boys Story — also dropped out, citing the coronavirus.
“As a precaution, WarnerMedia has decided it best not to move forward with activations at SXSW, a tweet from CNN Communications explained. “We look forward to seeing everyone in Austin next year.
As a precaution, WarnerMedia has decided it best not to move forward with activations at SXSW. We look forward to seeing everyone in Austin next year.
— CNN Communications (@CNNPR) March 5, 2020
According to the Johns Hopkins Center for Systems Science and Engineering’s coronavirus tracker, there have been almost 97,000 cases of coronavirus infection and 3,305 deaths worldwide, including 11 in the United States.
71