Singer Shawn Mendes was slammed by fans for using a photo of New York City covered in smoke from the wildfires in Canada to promote his new single.
On Thursday, Mendes took to social media to share an image of the Manhattan skyline, which was barely visible due to the ongoing Canadian wildfires. In the caption of his post, the singer wrote the title of his new single, “What The Hell Are We Dying For?” along with its drop time, “Midnight ET.”
Fans, however, were not pleased with the manner in which Mendes promoted his new single and took to the comment section to express their frustration.
“Why are you trying to profit off a natural disaster?” one Instagram user asked.
“did bro actually commercialize New York’s climate,” another inquired.
“ppl are dying in wildfires n getting sick by the poor air quality n u rlly decided to make it ur aesthetic?” a third wrote.
“Did this man just use our city’s polluted weather as album art?” another asked.
“that’s fucked up to use this for your benefit!” one Instagram user proclaimed.
“If this isn’t some protest song then I’m going to feel very uncomfortable for that cover art,” another stated.
After the song was released, fans grew even more upset, as they believe the lyrics are about Mendes’ relationship with singer Camila Cabello.
“he’s so unserious for framing this like a climate change call to action song and it’s literally just about Camila Cabello,” one fan wrote.
“I do also confuse climate change with camila cabello! they just sound so similar so i see where he got confused,” another quipped.
While the Canadian singer uses an image of polluted air to promote his new song, millions of people in the United States are dealing with dangerous air conditions related to the smoke from the wildfires in Canada.
Watch — BLADE RUNNER NYC: Canadian Wildfire Smog Casts Dystopian Hue Over Big Apple
You can follow Alana Mastrangelo on Facebook and Twitter at @ARmastrangelo, and on Instagram.