Republican congressman Matt Gaetz wants to stop the music this weekend in Florida, when it comes to the 30A Songwriters Festival, an annual gathering that he contends is acting as a scofflaw when it comes to COVID restrictions — by having any at all.
Gaetz has written an open letter to Florida governor Ron De Santis over what the congressman says is “the illegal implementation of vaccine passports” at the festival, asking him to “inform the Walton County Tourist Development Council of the ramifications if they proceed in funding the 30A Songwriters Festival under these unlawful conditions.”
But 30A organizers tell Variety they aren’t imposing any more onerous restrictions than the most basic ones happening at virtually every other concert in the area, and that these hardly constitute the so-called “vaccine passport” that has become a bogeyman of the right.
Rep. Gaetz “did not verify anything with us” before issuing a press release, says Russell Carter, who co- produces the 30A Songwriters Festival with Jennifer Steele for the CAA. “He just ranted about Vaccine Passports, which we do not nor ever have advocated or required.”
30A, scheduled for Friday through Sunday, is due to feature singer-songwriters like Emmylou Harris, Jenny Lewis, Dawes, Patty Griffin, Rickie Lee Jones, Allison Moorer, Mavis Staples, Hayes Carll and dozens more familiar to the folk-rock or Americana communities.
Carter maintains that the festival policy, which is to require proof of vaccination or a recent negative COVID-18 test for attendees, is well in line with Florida law. Gov. DeSantis, who is like-minded with Gaetz in being against virtually all COVID-related restrictions, did sign off last spring on a bill making it illegal to require vaccine proof as a requirement to enter a business. But in Florida and the other 19 Republican-governed states where such laws have been passed, concert and live theater promoters have generally been understood to be in the clear as long as their primary requirement is a negative test, with proof of vaccination being a way of opting out of the test mandate.
Nonetheless, Gaetz alleges in his open letter that “vaccine passports should not be funded by Florida taxpayers,” and that what 30A requires for admission is “a blatant violation of Executive Order 21-81, ‘Prohibiting COVID-19 Vaccine Passports.’ … Your executive order allows entities to engage in COVID-19 screening, generally, but does not permit different treatment for the vaccinated and unvaccinated.”
30A’s position is that the unvaccinated are equally as welcome at the festival as the vaccinated, as long as they can provide a negative test from within the previous 72 hours, something that DeSantis’ office has signaled an OK on in the past.
“Rep. Gaetz is no stranger to the 30A Songwriters Festival,” Carter says. “He represents Walton County where the Festival is produced every MLK holiday weekend in January. His office has on many occasions contacted the festival requesting complimentary tickets, and he has attended the Festival at least twice in recent years. Prior to sending and publishing a letter to Gov. DeSantis, he easily could have called us to clarify what our policy is or researched it by going to our website to verify there is in fact no Vaccine Passport. Instead he quite simply misrepresented the facts in an irresponsible manner.”
Source: Read Full Article
