#Cuomo calls packed Chainsmokers Hamptons concert ‘illegal & reckless’

Gov. Andrew Cuomo on Monday blasted a weekend Hamptons concert by The Chainsmokers where revelers openly flouted coronavirus social distancing rules as he said that the state Health Department will launch an investigation into the matter.

Online videos from the Southampton concert held on Saturday show “egregious social distancing violations. I am appalled,” Cuomo said in a tweet, along with a now-viral clip showing massive crowds jamming out.

“The Department of Health will conduct an investigation,” the governor wrote. “We have no tolerance for the illegal & reckless endangerment of public health.”

The charity concert – planned as a “drive-in” with 500 cars and an estimated 2,000 people in the Water Mill hamlet off Millstone Road – was headlined by The Chainsmokers and featured opening acts by Southampton’s Town Supervisor Jay Schneiderman’s band and Goldman Sachs CEO David Solomon (aka DJ D-Sol).

State Health Commissioner Howard Zucker earlier Monday sent a letter to Schneiderman, saying he was “greatly disturbed by reports concerning the ‘drive-in’ concert held in your town this past weekend, which apparently involved thousands of people in close proximity, out of their vehicles, a VIP area where there was no pretense of a vehicle, and generally not adhering to social distancing guidance.”

Zucker fumed in the letter, “I am at a loss as to how the Town of Southampton could have issued a permit for such an event, how they believed it was legal and not an obvious public health threat.”

Schneiderman put the blame on the organizers of the event during an interview with The Post Monday.

“We believe the conditions of the permit were violated,” Schneiderman said, explaining that the town issued a special event permit for the concert that allowed a company called In The Know Experiences to run the event.

Schneiderman, who estimated that about 3,000 were at the concert, said that each car at the event and its occupants were supposed to remain in a designated square on the ground order to social distance.

“The cars weren’t going to be right next to each other. It was going to be like a checkerboard,” he said, adding, “The design met the guidance – it was a drive-in event.”

But that did not happen, according to footage of the concert.

“The organizer was supposed to make sure that people stayed in their square – they didn’t have enough security,” said Schneiderman.

VIP areas where crowds formed near the stage during the show were “not part of the permit,” said Schneiderman, who claimed, “We never would have permitted that.”

“I had conversations with the organizers making sure they were going to enforce the rules,” the town supervisor said. “It’s unfortunate that they allowed that to happen.”

Schneiderman said that when his band performed at the beginning of the night, “There was nobody in the front of the stage.”

“I stayed for a while and when I became aware of the VIP area, I told the two security guards from the organizers to stop,” said Schneiderman, who added that he had to leave because his ride home texted him saying, “You have to come to the car right now. We have to leave,” because his pal was having an “allergy issue.”

Schneiderman said he’s conducting an investigation into the matter of his own.

“I want to know why the town’s police did not break up the VIP area,” he said, noting that during the night police presence had to be “significantly” increased to deal with the crowds.

“I never would have permitted the event,” said Schneiderman. “The organizers will be cited for that.”

Southampton Town Police Chief Steven Skrynecki told The Post that the crowds of people seen in the video tweeted by Cuomo was “not in play” for most of the concert.

The VIP area, Skrynecki said, was “not immediately the problem.”

“We shut the event down at 10:30 p.m. between the police and fire marshals on scene,” the chief said, explaining that, “We were getting a lot of noise complaints…and the stage area was getting more congested with people.”

“We are disappointed in the organizers ability to deliver the product that they said they were going to deliver,” said Skrynecki. “So that is part of the reason why we had to increase our police force and we were expecting them to be a lot more involved in COVID enforcement and to address COVID issues.”