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A 15-year-oldDestroy Lonelyfan was hospitalized in intensive care after the rapper urged him to jump off the stage during a performance at a rapfestivalin Costinesti, Romania, on July 11. The Romanian news platform Observator spoke to the teen, only identified by his first name, Nicolas, from his hospital bed. Nicolas toldObservatorthat he told Destroy Lonely that he didn’t want to jump; the rapper can be seen on video appearing to push the boy towards the edge of the stage. According to the Romanian news source via Google Translate, Nicolas’s mother will file a “complaint” against Lonely. Representatives of Destroy Lonely did not immediately return Rolling Stone’s request for comment.
Destroy Lonely was one of many American hip-hop acts to play the Beach, Please festival near Romania’s Black Sea, including ASAP Rocky, Young Thug, 21 Savage, Lil Baby, and Ken Carson, Lonely’s label mate on Playboi Carti’s imprint, Opium. Like Playboi Carti, Lonely’s music leans into rage rap, and during his set, the artist could be seen wildly kicking off panels of the screen behind him. According to Observator, from the crowd, Nicolas expressed that he wanted to join Lonely on stage, which the rapper obliged. The outlet reports that Nicolas and Lonely sang and danced together for about a minute. Afterwards, in a video of the performance, Lonely can be seen and heard telling the teen, “I need you to jump right back in there with your friends! You ready?”
In another graphic video from another angle, Nicolas can be seen hesitating and trying to communicate with Lonely before the rapper grabs his hoodie and pushes him towards the edge. Nicolas runs towards the edge as well, but lands directly on a barricade, folding over it from the torso. He makes a pained and stunned expression. The concert continued without delay, the Observator reports. Nicolas was given first aid and admitted to the Intensive Care Unit at the Constanţa County Hospital. He reportedly suffered a pulmonary contusion and lesions on the liver and one of his kidneys. He will need several weeks of recovery.
“When I fell, I thought I was dying,” Nicolas told Observator. “I had no more air, I ran out of air. I thought if I didn’t get help here, these would be my last moments.” His fall was over 10 feet long. Nicolas’s mother, who attended the festival with him, told the outlet that Nicolas also has wounds on his legs and pain in his shoulder. She said he regrets attending.
Andrei Şelaru, a co-founder of Beach, Please, and popular Romanian YouTuber known as Selly, has said the festival will never work with Lonely again. “We stand with the young man who suffered an injury last night, during a spontaneous moment spent on stage,” Şelaru said, per the Romanian newspaper Adevarul via Google Translate. “We believe that the incident was caused by an irresponsible attitude of the artist who invited him on stage and urged him to jump. That is why, as of today, we have a new rule at the festival: no participant has access to the stage, even if invited by the artist.”
On its Instagram, Beach, Please refers to itself as “The biggest hip-hop festival in the world.” According to a festival representative it saw a record-breaking 500,000 total attendees.In a statement to Rolling Stone, the Beach, Please rep wrote, “We are relieved and grateful to report that [Nicolas] is now in stable condition, recovering well, and expected to make a full recovery. Throughout this time, we have remained in close contact with his family, offering our full support. His wellbeing continues to be our highest priority.” Adding that Nicolas’ fall was the only “such” incident reported, they wrote, “At Beach, Please!, our mission is to create unforgettable experiences — never at the expense of safety. We believe festivals must lead by example when it comes to care, responsibility, and respect for the crowd. This incident has only strengthened our commitment to those values.”
July 17 2:27 p.m.: This story has been updated to include a statement from Beach, Please.
