MATT SORUM: 'Musicians Aren't Allowed To Tour But Our President Can Throw A Rally To 20K People In An Arena?'

Matt Sorum has expressed his bewilderment over the fact that President Donald Trump was allowed to host a campaign rally in Oklahoma amid warnings from health officials about the coronavirus.

The former GUNS N' ROSES drummer tweeted out his comments as Trump held his first rally since early March inside Tulsa's 19,000-seat Bank Of Oklahoma Center.

The Trump campaign had refused to cancel or significantly scale down the event despite warnings about the fear of spreading COVID-19 at one of the largest public gatherings since the outbreak began.

"Musicians aren't allowed to work and tour but our president can throw a Rally to 20k people in an Arena ? ?" Sorum wrote. "I'm very confused !!! @POTUS can you explain"

According to NBC News, few of the president's supporters wore masks inside the BOK Center. Event organizers had reportedly asked attendees to put on their masks before entering the arena, but said they were free to remove them once inside.

Although the campaign had said as many as a million tickets had been requested ahead of the rally, vast sections of empty seats were visible in the upper decks at the arena as the scheduled time for the president's remarks approached, NBC News reported.

In the face of the coronavirus pandemic, thousands of concerts and festivals have either been postponed or canceled, as social distancing and self-quarantining make performing live music and attending live shows all but impossible.

More than 8.7 million coronavirus cases have been reported worldwide and more than 463,000 deaths so far, putting public health systems and emergency services under immense pressure.

U.S. officials have repeatedly urged Americans to heed what federal, state and local officials are asking of them in order to curtail the spread and dampen the impact of the virus on the population.

Photo credit: Michael Segal