Patti Smith apologizes for cancelling show after collapsing onstage in Brazil

SAO PAULO — Veteran singer and poet Patti Smith has reassured fans that she is “fine” after collapsing during a presentation in Brazil and later returning to apologize to the audience for ending her show early.

Video published on social media showed the 78-year-old lying on the stage of the venue in Sao Paulo on Wednesday night.

“I’m fine. You can hear I’m fine,” she told The Associated Press on Thursday morning when reached by phone. “The whole thing has been grossly exaggerated.”

She added that a statement she published on her Instagram, in which she said she had experienced post-migraine dizziness, “speaks for itself.”

“I was checked out by an excellent doctor and was absolutely fine. Please do not accept any other account. With all the strife in the world, this explainable incident does not merit so much attention,” Smith posted.

The Cultura Artistica Theater said it cancelled Thursday’s evening performance, after initially saying it would happen as scheduled.

Smith has been in Sao Paulo for a two-day presentation of the “Correspondences” project with the Berlin-based group Soundwalk Collective. During the performance, she recited some of her writings alongside musicians.

Soundwalk Collective said that Smith had suffered from an intense migraine for the past couple of days but “still wanted to be there for all of us and you and perform.” The group posted a statement, signed by them and Smith, to their Instagram stories.

A second statement, posted late Thursday afternoon, said the group had decided to cancel the second performance “with much sadness.”

“Patti is now recovering strongly but our caring doctors say she needs a little more time to be at her best,” the artists said.

Smith collapsed about 30 minutes into the event while reading a text about climate change, according to local media. She fell on stage and remained there for a few minutes before receiving assistance.

“She clearly felt dizzy. She started moving backward and fell in a way — I think she tried to support herself on the microphone or the music stand. And everything fell on top of her. It was a bizarre scene,” Micheline Alves, a journalist who was sitting in one of the front rows, said in a phone interview.

Alves said that a doctor, who was in the audience, went onstage to check on Smith. “After a few minutes, we saw that she wasn’t unconscious. She got up on her own,” Alves added.

She was then placed in a wheelchair and taken backstage. She later returned in a wheelchair and apologized, video on local media showed.

“Unfortunately, I got sick, and the doctor said I can’t finish. So we will have to figure something out. And I feel very badly,” Smith said.

The audience responded in English: “Don’t be! We love you!” The artist then sang “Wing” and “Because the Night” a capella.

“It was very beautiful because she was very sad, very vulnerable about not being able to do the show,” said Alves.

— Italie reported from New York.