One of the world’s top DJs has become embroiled in a bitter war of words with a leading Chinese singer over an alleged snub at a major music festival in Shanghai.
Martin Garrix, the Dutch superstar DJ, was accused by Huang Zitao – known simply as Tao – of refusing to share a stage with him during a planned joint performance at the festival on Saturday night.
Tao, 30, who shot to fame as a member of the South Korean-Chinese boyband EXO, launched an angry tirade against Garrix in a backstage livestream that has gone viral on Chinese social media.
In the expletive-laden video, a visibly furious Tao accused Garrix of failing to show up for rehearsals, only to then take to the stage alone during their supposedly joint segment.
“He did his part but wasn’t willing to perform with me on stage,” the singer raged. “I’m not on stage, yet they played my whole song, what am I gonna perform?”
Tao said that in his decade-long career, he had “never encountered someone disrespecting him like this“, adding that organizers told him Garrix would only join on the day of the actual performance.
“Because I myself I dont k’now him”
If you don’t know about“martin Garrix” why you made an entire live stream crying because “He Doesn’t upload you at the stage” when was your fault not be Ready 🤡 #NOCORRELATION pic.twitter.com/GQnBAaZBLR— Martin Garrix Info (@InfoGarrix) April 20, 2024
When Tao later took to the stage alone, he continued venting his anger, directly addressing and swearing at fans as he recounted his version of events.
However, Garrix was quick to fight back against the accusations in a video of his own, claiming it had been well communicated in advance that the two artists would not actually perform together.
Martin Garrix said organizers had planned for them to only take to the stage individually, with a possibility for Tao to join him briefly at the end for a “photo moment” and “outro” as his vocals played.
But Garrix alleged that when this moment came and Tao’s song started, the singer himself was nowhere to be seen.
“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,” Garrix said.
The DJ, whose global hits include Animals and In The Name of Love, also denied being absent from rehearsals, saying he was not even in China the previous day.
He apologized to fans but lambasted the “misinformation and lies being spread” – in an apparent rebuke of Tao’s allegations.
The feud has caused a social media storm in China, with Tao’s fans accusing Garrix’s camp of discriminating against the singer on account of his nationality. Others theorized there had been a breakdown in communication between the festival organizers and two performers.
Neither artist has publicly commented further since posting their contrasting video statements in the early hours of Sunday morning.
The controversy has brought renewed scrutiny on the lucrative practice of booking Western music stars to perform at high-profile events in China and other Asian markets.
Update from the festival
Shanghai Chekered Flag Music Carnival festival answered regarding this matter:
We are disappointed that due to our communication errors and negligence in confirming information, misunderstandings arose from the artist’s side – TwoFiftyK Account Director, Remco Hek
