A teenager has been hospitalised in intensive care after rapper Destroy Lonely reportedly encouraged him to jump off a festival stage in Romania, only for the teen to fall straight onto a metal barrier.
The incident took place during Lonely’s set at Beach, Please! Festival in Costinesti on July 11. The fan, identified only as 15-year-old Nicolas, had been pulled up onstage by the rapper before being coaxed into stage-diving.
Video footage shows him visibly hesitant and looking toward the drop with uncertainty, but Destroy Lonely allegedly persisted, saying, “When this motherfucker drop, I need you to jump right back in there with your friends. Is you ready?” Seconds later, Nicolas is seen being pushed off and falling chest-first onto the crowd barricade below.
Nicolas was on site with his mother. After hitting the metal barrier, he collapsed and received immediate medical treatment from staff before being rushed to Constanţa County Hospital. He has since been diagnosed with a pulmonary contusion and lesions to his liver and one of his kidneys.
In an interview with Romanian outlet The Observator, Nicolas said, “When I fell, I thought I was dying. 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.” He is expected to make a full recovery after several weeks of rest and monitoring.
Festival organisers have since blacklisted Destroy Lonely, with co-founder Andrei Şelaru stating he will never be invited back. They’ve also implemented a strict no-fan-on-stage policy, regardless of artist invitation. “We believe that the incident was caused by an irresponsible attitude of the artist who invited him on stage and urged him to jump,” Şelaru said in a statement. The festival has issued a formal apology and has remained in contact with Nicolas’ family, offering support and privacy.
Nicolas’ mother reportedly intends to file a complaint against the rapper. As of now, Destroy Lonely has not commented publicly. What should have been a memory for the right reasons has turned into a warning about crowd safety and the limits of hype culture at live shows.
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