Image : Getty

On Thursday night, Iggy Azalea played a concert in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, and in the middle of “Black Widow,” one of her backup dancers collapsed onstage. Just as Azalea hit the last line in the chorus, another woman knelt next to the fallen dancer and then it sounds like she said into her microphone, “Somebody bring a medic up here.”


Based on a video of that moment (below), it appears that Azalea then looked back at the women. Her two other dancers had basically given up on the choreo, but Azalea simply turned around and continued rapping. Eventually, about 30 seconds later, the music stopped. A group of people had materialized onstage around the backup dancer.


Azalea received a lot of questions and criticism on social media about why, pray tell, she didn’t rush to help this woman. Today, she answered them on her Instagram story. Emphasis mine:

Hey guys, just want to let everyone asking know my dancer is OKAY! The lights & heat caused her to have a seizure. She is backstage feeling much better. Also, for what it’s worth in regards to the backup dancer. 1. I thought she had just fallen/twisted her ankle. And it may sound harsh but; you keep singing until music stops & ask for a medic which is what I did. 2. We are all really shaken up by what happened & just thankful she is okay.



Azalea is right—it does sound kind of harsh—but it seems like there was general confusion onstage about the severity of the situation until those officials appeared onstage and the music was cut off. Even the other two dancers, who were closer on the other side of Azalea as the one who fell, continued half-heartedly doing their moves at first, at least in the shot of them included in the video above. Later on her Instagram story, she wrote about all the hate she gets from others, but it’s obvious that this medical emergency in and of itself wasn’t her fault. In that last missive, she wrote, “Everyone is just trying to make it through their day. Could we be a little kinder to each other?”