Emtee opens up about his onstage collapse

Local rapper Emtee worried his fans and fellow musicians when he spaced out and collapsed on stage at a gig in Limpopo in July.

While many speculated that he was intoxicated at the time, Emtee responded by saying in an interview that he wasn’t and later announced on Twitter that he neither did drugs nor drank alcohol anymore. His explanations didn’t seem to make the controversy around blackout out disappear, but Emtee was sticking to his story.

In an interview with MetroFM, Emtee said the reason he collapsed on stage was because he was exhausted after a long car drive to Limpopo. He claimed when he arrived at the gig he was tired and disorientated.

“It was confusing because I had just woken up from a long drive from Joburg to Limpopo and immediately I was jumping on stage,” Emtee told MetroFM. “A lot of things were already confusing me. I think I was overwhelmed. I was tired. The fall came from being pulled by the people.”

Emtee also said the reaction to his fall was a byproduct of him being too open and honest about his drug use in the past.

“The perception comes from me just being a free spirit and being open about the things I do, that I took a lot of pride in because it came with what I do,” Emtee said.

“That’s where a lot of assumptions came from. It was my mistake by being too open about the things I do, I felt played in many ways. There was not that many people to answer for it but me.”