Country star Thomas Rhett ended up leaving a concert in a wheelchair after he injured his ankle while making his way on stage.
The 35-year-old singer made a surprise appearance during Forrest Frank’s concert on 13 April at the Bridgestone Arena in Nashville, where Frank began to introduce their recent collaboration, “Nothing Else”.
“I can’t sing Thomas Rhett’s verse can I?” Frank told the crowd. As they cheered, a spotlight moved to Rhett sitting in the audience.
Footage of the incident shows him racing down the steps then taking a sudden tumble and falling to the floor, before being assisted by security guards.
Rhett managed to get onto the stage and perform a lively rendition of the song, jumping around while leaning mostly on his right foot. A video shared to his own Instagram earlier this week showed his wife, Lauren Akins, pushing him in a wheelchair after the show.
“Every now and then you just have to sing at a Forrest Frank concert and break your ankle in the process,” he said. “I gave my all for Tennessee tonight.”
Akins then laughed as she wheeled her husband through the venue. He captioned the clip: “@hiforrest told me to pull up and I left in a wheelchair.”
“ABSOLUTE CHAMPION,” Frank commented on the Instagram post.
A number of Rhett’s fans praised him for powering through the performance despite his injury. “Bro broke his ankle and performed like nothing happened,” photographer Jake Blucker commented. “That’s a pro’s pro.”
“You handled this like a champ!!!!” singer Garrett Hornbuckle said. “Seriously man you’re the real deal.”
People confirmed that Rhett fortunately didn’t break his ankle, but only sprained it.
The son of country musician Thomas Rhett Akins Sr, Rhett has four Grammy nominations to his name as well as 20 singles on the Billboard Hot Country 100.
He rose to attention after co-writing the song “I Ain’t Ready to Quit” on Jason Aldean’s 2010 album My Kinda Party, and has since released seven albums of his own while continuing to write singles for acts including Morgan Wallen, Tyler Hubbard and Cole Swindell.
His latest album, About a Woman, was released in August last year and featured the single “Somethin' 'Bout A Woman”, a collaboration with breakout star Teddy Swims.
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