Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis was greeted with loud cheers when introduced at a Florida country music festival after he slammed “Fauci-ism.”
“Florida chose freedom over Fauci-ism,” DeSantis said Sunday to the crowd at the Pepsi Gulf Coast Jam, where he was greeted with a standing ovation upon taking the stage.
#DontFauciMyFlorida pic.twitter.com/qGwYcXD2h3
— Christina Pushaw (@ChristinaPushaw) June 7, 2021
The governor then later took to Twitter to celebrate the evening’s proceedings, noting that the Panama City Beach event was the largest music festival since the “pandemic began.”
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“Nothing says Florida is open like a night of live music at the @Pepsi @GulfCoastJam,” DeSantis said.
Nothing says Florida is open like a night of live music at the @Pepsi @GulfCoastJam, the largest music festival since the pandemic began. pic.twitter.com/z07xMrS8JM
— Ron DeSantis (@GovRonDeSantis) June 7, 2021
The festival featured country music stars such as Luke Bryan, Brad Paisley, and Lynyrd Skynyrd. The outdoor event hosted 30,000 spectators and featured an on-site COVID-19 vaccination clinic for concertgoers who have yet to receive the jab. The wearing of masks was also made optional.
Rendy Lovelady, whose PCB Entertainment put on the event, praised DeSantis for allowing the show to go on.
“Fortunately for us, the governor here of the state of Florida believes in opening up quickly and getting back to normal as best you can,” Lovelady said. “Our numbers are fairly good, and the tri-state area is good.”
The festival came after DeSantis called Florida “America’s West Berlin” when compared to other states that imposed harsher restrictions in response to the pandemic.
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“People have the right to work, a right to operate businesses,” DeSantis said at a press conference last month. “They need more employees. That’s the main thing at this point. We’re proud of what we’ve been able to accomplish. We are effectively America’s West Berlin over the last year, and people view this as a free zone.”
The declaration came as DeSantis moved to suspend all statewide COVID-19 restrictions last month.
