deadmau5 discusses death threats from fans; fear of being killed on stage

One of the most influential yet controversial in the electronic dance music industry – Joel Zimmerman, better known as Deadmau5, has recently opened up about his fear of being killed on stage. With his latest album W:/2016ALBUM/ and ongoing live tour, Deadmau5 has been gaining momentum all around the world. However, with fame and fortune comes jealousy and mentally unstable fans.

In an interview with NME, Deadmau5 expressed his concerns with some of the alarming messages and comments he has been receiving from his fans.

“I get chicks on Instagram saying that I raped them and that they’re calling their lawyer. I do all my own s**t – Snapchat, Instagram, Twitter – and I see everything, every weird private message from every random psycho. I’m not shielded from anything.”

“I get messages from dudes saying, ‘I’m gonna kill you at the show!’ And I’m like, ‘Well, f**k – this could be it.’”

Referring to the second comment he made: Joel Zimmerman related his fear for his life to the instance of Dimebag Darrell, the guitarist of Pantera, who was shot and killed on stage by a mentally unstable fan back in 2014. Deadmau5 then further conveyed an experience when he had an frightening encounter with a fan:

“I nearly killed a kid once… I’ve never told this story. So I’m playing live, up in the Cube. I’ve got this LED helmet on, I’m six foot in the air, I can barely see. All of a sudden I hear my manager screaming in my earpiece, and I feel someone grabbing at my waist. This kid has somehow climbed up into the Cube. I just panic, I kick back at him, and he just drops and lands on his back – bang. And he’s motionless. I take off my helmet and look down, and for what felt like a looong time I’m like, ‘I just paralysed or killed that kid.’ Then finally he bounces up and is all ‘Wooo!’ at the crowd. Never been so relieved in my life. Scary.”

Hopefully Deadmau5‘ fears will never come true, read the full interview here.

Source: nme.com / Dancing Astronaut