Chinese singer Huang Zitao says Martin Garrix refused to accompany him on stage. The Dutch DJ tells a different story.
Dutch DJ and producer Martin Garrix seldom finds himself at the center of significant controversy. This weekend, however, Huang Zitao (known professionally as Tao) accused him of refusing to share the stage with him at the F1 China Grand Prix festival in Shanghai.
DramaPanda reports that the Chinese singer started a livestream backstage at the event to publicly complain that Martin Garrix (real name Martijn Garritsen) would not appear on stage with him. “I attended the rehearsal, he didn’t show up and was told he would come tomorrow for the actual performance,” Huang reportedly said. “Then he did his part but wasn’t willing to perform with me on stage.”
“I’m not onstage, yet they played my whole song,” Huang reportedly continued. “What am I gonna perform?”
It didn’t stop there. Huang reportedly got on stage after Garritsen played his first song and then launched into a profane rant. “Honestly, who he is has nothing to do with me because I don’t even know him,” he is quoted as saying to the audience. “I don’t ****ing care, mother ****er.”
On Saturday, Garritsen made a video statement of his own on Weibo. “There’s been a lot of misinformation, a lot of lies, and a lot of bullying happening on the Internet,” he said. “I love China, I love being here, I love the people. What I don’t love is that there’s been misinformation and lies being spread.”
Garritsen’s told his own side of the story, which is that his contract specifiedfrom the beginning that the two artists would not perform together at the same time. When he learned that Huang was under a different impression, however, he said that he tried to make it right by meeting him in the middle, inviting him on stage during his set so that the two could be photographed together. He also said that the two were supposed to meet beforehand during a Heineken activation, but Huang didn’t show up.
“There are videos of me ending my show with ‘Starlights’ and immediately starting the ‘Forever’ song where he was supposed to walk on, and we’d have our moment together, like a performance together,” Garritsen said. “He was hiding in the toilets in his dressing room area to the point that there’s music playing, you can hear his voice on the speaker, but he’s not there, he’s not holding a microphone.”
Garritsen said that he ended up leaving the stage because “It was just awkward,” only to later learn that Huang had spoken out against him on live stream and on stage. Huang’s own tone changed significantly the next time he spoke on the matter.
“I would like to sincerely apologize to the organizers, brands, and all viewers for my last inappropriate remarks during tonight’s performance,” wrote Huang in a Weibo post on Saturday. “As a public figure, my words and deeds set a bad example and had a negative impact. For this reason, I will take this as a warning, accept everyone’s criticism and supervision, and prevent this from happening again.”
That appears to conclude this rare moment of drama in the life of Martin Garrix. With any luck, his next visit to China will be somewhat less eventful.
