The audience at Zanies Comedy Club in Nashville, Tennessee, let out a big, collective gasp on Friday, June 19, after D.L. Hughley fainted onstage during his standup routine.
The comedian has since announced that he’s tested positive for COVID-19 and plans to be quarantined for two weeks in his hotel room.
Hughley began to lean backward on a stool while performing his set. A man then jumped onstage to assist him before Hughley collapsed and was taken away.
The 57-year-old gave an update on his condition Saturday on Instagram.
“I’m just being released from St. Thomas hospital in Nashville,” he said. “I want to thank them for taking such good care of me … Thanks everybody for your prayers and well-wishes. When I came I was being treated for extreme exhaustion and dehydration … But it turns out they ran a battery of tests and I also tested positive for COVID-19, which blew me away. I was what they call asymptomatic. I didn’t have any symptoms.”
“I didn’t have flu-like symptoms, I didn’t have shortness of breath, I didn’t have difficulty breathing, I didn’t have a cough, I didn’t have a low-grade fever,” added Hughley. “I still don’t have a fever. I didn’t have a loss of smell or taste, apparently I just lost consciousness … In addition to all the other stuff you have to look out for, if your a-s pass out in the middle of a show on stage, you probably need to get tested.”
Hughley then said that he hopes COVID-19 symptoms won’t suddenly appear and that fainting will be the worst of his illness.
He received a lot of comments and positive words after leaving the Instagram video, and one of the messages was from actress Tichina Arnold.
“Sending prayers for your body, mind AND spirit!” she tweeted on Saturday. “Hang in there. You have much work to do. Maybe Covid is a way of sitting your a-s down and taking it easy brother. So sorry this happened to you. When you tour, you MUST use your own mic. Love ya man. You WILL be ok.”
“You mean the world to me, DL! My Prayers are with you always! Get well soon! We need you!” another person tweeted.
After learning of Hughley’s diagnosis, Zanies announced they’d be closing the club to put it through a rigorous cleaning procedure by a specialist, according to News 4 Nashville.
The club’s decision-makers are also telling those who were at Zanies to watch Hughley perform to seek medical treatment if they feel any COVID-19 symptoms.
