Carlos Santana Red Rocks Cancer Comments Spark Backlash

Guitarist Carlos Santana has drawn criticism online following a strange remark he made regarding the cause of cancer during a recent live performance at Red Rocks. The veteran guitarist took the stage at the iconic outdoor venue in Colorado on August 24th, where he delivered the controversial statements to the concert crowd.

The Red Rocks Remarks

Footage from the show has since surfaced on social media, capturing the moment Santana addressed the audience about health and emotional baggage. “If you want to make sure in your life that you never have cancer, it’s important that you remember this,” Santana told the crowd.

He continued by pointing to emotional resentment as a direct physical cause, saying, “Grievances cause cancer. So it’s important that you let it go and forgive. Let go of that shit. Let it go, and you will be clean. I promise you, you will be clean.”

During the set, Santana also referenced an unnamed medical professional to back up his assertions. “A specialist on cancer, he said he never met anyone that had cancer that didn’t have grievances,” he claimed.

Medical Consensus and Backlash

Santana’s unverified claims quickly ran up against established medical science and drew immediate social media backlash. Major health organizations maintain that emotional states and stress do not trigger the disease. According to Cancer Research UK, research has consistently failed to show a link between stress and cancer risk, citing large-scale studies of over 100,000 women and over 100,000 people that found no connection to breast cancer or other common malignancies.

Similarly, the American Cancer Society notes plainly that research has shown a person’s personality, thoughts, and emotions do not cause cancer.

As of now, Santana has not elaborated on his comments or addressed the ongoing social media criticism. His current tour is scheduled to pick back up on September 12th, when he is slated to play the first of two consecutive dates at the Santa Barbara Bowl.