YIKES

Tone-Deaf Pool Party Evoking Deadly Lebanese Explosion Is Canned

People said the party, which was set for the eve of the 2020 explosion’s anniversary, was ill-named.

Organizers of a Lebanese pool party scheduled for the eve of the deadly Beirut explosion anniversary decided the best name for the event would be...The Blast. The tone-deaf bash, scheduled for Aug. 3, was canceled after backlash on social media, with people blasting the organizers for their callousness. “What is wrong with you?” wrote one person. “How are the organizers okay with celebrating and partying on a day where half of our capital was WIPED and thousands lost their homes?” One of the DJs set to play the event apologized, saying he thought it symbolized the “awesome” nature of the event and that he didn’t realize the improper connection. “The only intention of this name was that the party was going to be awesome,” DJ Ari-D wrote on Instagram. He apologized for the “unintentional sensitivity” associated with the name.

The Aug. 4 explosion last year at the Port of Beirut left more than 200 people dead and more than 7,500 injured.