Godmother of Soul Patti LaBelle says she’s “OK” after a bomb threat forced security to whisk the legendary singer off the stage during her Christmas concert in Milwaukee over the weekend.
In a post shared via her drummer Eric Seats’ Instagram Stories, the 78-year-old star gave her supporters an update following the Saturday, Dec. 10, incident stating that “Everything is fine. I’m OK.” The “New Attitude” singer added, “We are all good because we woke up this morning.” Eric inserted “amen,” just before ending the clip.
The Grammy Award-winning songstress was speaking with an audience member who was celebrating her 70th birthday and receiving a bouquet of flowers from another fan in the front row when two men, presumably her security, approached her. The singer yelled, “Wait,” just before being taken away.
In an emailed statement to the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, Police Capt. Warren E Allen Jr wrote, “The building was searched by K9 units. No explosive devices were discovered. There is no threat to the public at this time.”
Patti had only performed two songs. Attendee Catherine Brunson told reporters before roughly 2,500 people were forced to evacuate the building around 9:24 p.m.
“Somebody got on a microphone and said we have to evacuate the building because there was a bomb threat,” Brunson, who documented the evacuation on Facebook Live, shared. “We came out, and police had the block taped off. … A whole lot of people were pretty upset. … It’s scary.”
Another concertgoer, Scott Pierce, said, “It happened so quickly,” before adding that “everybody very calmly exited the theater in a disbelieving manner. I heard lots of comments about how sad it was that someone would pull such a pathetic stunt.” Pierce added, “Before the incident, the crowd was really enjoying Patti. Just sad that someone does this.”
Fans on social media were glad to see that the veteran entertainer was safe, with many sharing their thoughts on the matter, including one shocked Twitter user who wrote, “Who would blow up Patti? Gotta be racism.”
Another person added, “Being responsible for a bomb threat at a Patti Labelle concert is a different type of pathetic. Good thing no one was hurt.”
