Kevin Smith Responds to SXSW’s Coronavirus Cancelation

The coronavirus continues to be a major topic of discussion on social media with everyone around [...]

By Jamie Jirak

The coronavirus continues to be a major topic of discussion on social media with everyone around the globe taking precautions, hoarding toilet paper, and canceling events. One big event that has been canceled over the outbreak is SXSW, the festival that focuses on film, interactive media, and music that takes place in Austin, Texas every year. The cancelation affects many people, so it's no surprise it's been a trending topic since the news broke yesterday. One person to comment on the news is Kevin Smith, the director best known for helming Clerks and Mallrats. SXSW was supposed to feature the premiere of Clerk, the documentary about the making of Smith's 1994 film.

"Bummer. Was looking forward to the debut of CLERK but this seems like the right thing to do. My heart goes out to @JanetPierson, the city of #Austin, @MalcolmIngram and all the filmmakers who were set to show their stuff at @sxsw," Smith wrote. As you can see, the director tagged Malcolm Ingram, who directed the documentary. Here's Ingram's reply: "Thank you. That means a lot. It's been a heckuva journey. Was proud to be asked to join the party. Feel horrible for the good folks @sxsw and Austin. I feel like I flooded their proverbial basement and broke their proverbial cookie jar." You can check out Smith's tweet below:

Here's the official description for Clerk from the SXSW website: "Clerk is an examination and celebration of the life of Kevin Smith - and an exploration on how one kid from Jersey completely transformed the cultural landscape. A journey which began 25 years ago at the Sundance Film festival where his DIY film Clerks, financed on credit cards took the film world by storm. Leading to a career as a filmmaker, podcaster, stand-up comedian, author, comic book writer, television producer - a veritable pop culture icon with a very large and loyal fanbase."

The coronavirus has infected more than 90,000 worldwide and killed more than 3,000 of those infected. The spread of the COVID-19 has caused wide-scale disruption across the entertainment industry. WWE is monitoring the spread of the virus in Tampa Bay, Florida, the site of WrestleMania 36. Warner Bros. canceled the premiere of Superman: Red Son. Netflix is struggling to film Dwayne Johnson's new movie, Red Notice. Disney delayed the Chinese premiere of its live-action Mulan movie indefinitely. The Game Developers Conference canceled its 2020 event after a series of company pullouts.

Stay tuned for more coronavirus-related cancellation updates.

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