Bay Area band gets hate mail after performing at superspreader event

In early August, Bay Area band Smash Mouth performed to a full audience at the Sturgis Motorcycle Rally in South Dakota. Despite the band’s claim that security measures were taken, video evidence showed otherwise, with hundreds of maskless concertgoers gathered in an outdoor field.

RELATED: Smash Mouth plays huge concert, video shows little social distancing

Now, state health officials have found 40 cases related to the rally. North Dakota has found 17 related de rallies, plus 103 cases spread across eight states. The AP reports that the 7,000 residents of Sturgis are being mass tested. It provides contact with nightmare detection, given that researchers have found that the hundreds of thousands of tourists who arrived for the event have visited 61% of all U.S. counties.

In response to anger, Mouth smashed back at criticism of her performance in a statement sent to Billboard, declaring that she spent “endless hours” ensuring proper COVID-19 protocols, but fans were still not happy about the news to hear and were vocal about their opposition to the band’s performance. Some have even gone so far as to send physical hate mail full of explicit and broken CDs.

The band seems unconcerned with the decline, according to an Instagram post titled “Recent Fan Post.”

Dan Gentile is a culture editor at SFGATE. Email: [email protected] | Twitter: @Danosphere