Guy Sebastian Issues 'Clarification' Over Vaccination Campaign Involvement

Guy Sebastian has issued a statement walking back his involvement in the music industry's #VaxTheNation campaign. 

The campaign, which was officially launched yesterday, calls on people to help 'stop the interruptions' and get vaccinated ASAP to help with the recovery of live music around Australia. 

Sebastian has since shared a video to his social media saying that the campaign was "posted to my page without my direct involvement".

"Whilst I, like everybody else in my industry, I want things to get going again, it is not my role to communicate in a way that that post was communicating. I would never ever tell people what to do when it comes to their personal health choices, I'm very sensitive of it..." said Sebastian in the video. 

"I just want to say that I'm really sorry, it was not a post that communicated with love or compassion which is what I feel is what's needed when addressing things like vaccinations, so I just wanted to clarify that so I could speak my truth and people knew how I actually feel."

Comments have been turned off on the post, with also removing the initial #VaxTheNation post. You can view the 'clarification' video post here. 

Artists have spoken out following Sebastian's post, with Urthboy taking to Twitter to say, "Some artists are expending a huge amount of their cultural capital challenging audiences to get vaxxed. So much respect. And then there's Guy Sebastian, one of our most successful artists, who sounds like he agrees with the science but is terrified of losing his anti-vax $". 

Sebastian has since responded to the post saying, "Mate with all love and respect, I think it’s important to listen to what I’m actually saying. I am double vaxxed. I’m all for encouraging people to make the right medical decision for them, but not in absolutes. I have many colleagues and people close to me who have legitimate health circumstances to consider. 

"They are not anti-vax but are facing extreme pressure on their decisions. I’m not talking about ppl who are believe in wild conspiracies etc. I support the campaign, but I personally didn’t like my own caption which didn’t account for those ppl."

Sebastian continued saying, "Brother I have given my reasons but if want to believe in another narrative I can’t change that. I hope we can find a way to have these conversations and still stay together in our industry."

Ben Lee and Briggs have also publicly commented on the post with Lee saying, "To be honest, this is actually a really sad example of what happens when your career is dependent on trying to be all things to all people", while Briggs has posted a thread on Twitter speaking more generally on the topic. 

"Man, any musicians apologising for trying to get back to work by advocating for a safer audience is self defeating. Unpack your spine ya goofballs," read the post. 

"This also isn’t just about Guy. I see it all the time with artists, sportspeople, celebrities whatever. Scared of their audience and scared of their wallet.

"Trying to play both side of the fence & appease people likes makes you look like a fkn goose."

More than 200 of Australia’s biggest artists have spoken out in support of the campaign, including the newly established Live Industry Venues & Entertainment Alliance (a group which includes APRA AMCOS, ARIA, Frontier Touring/Mushroom Group, Live Nation, Live Performance Australia, Secret Sounds, TEG and more). 

They have been joined by the likes of Jimmy Barnes, The Amity Affliction, Emma Donovan, Tim Minchin, Paul Kelly, Archie Roach, Amy Shark, Hilltop Hoods, Gordi, Midnight Oil, Briggs, Daryl Braithwaite, Amyl & The Sniffers, Alice Skye and more. Find out more about the campaign here.