Luke Bryan wants fans to know that his recent concert falls had nothing to do with alcohol — he’s just really tall.
During the Monday, May 6, episode of Jimmy Kimmel Live, host Jimmy Kimmel played a compilation video of Bryan, 47, falling several times while performing on stage. Bryan laughed off the incidents by pointing out that “somebody had gotten some water” on the platform before he started to sing.
“I keep my water bottles right there,” he explained. “Well, first of all, everybody — you check the comments on the fans talking about the fall, and there’s nine out of 10 comments that point to me being drunk.”
Bryan wanted to take the opportunity to “clear the air” on speculation that he keeps falling because he is drunk.
“I’m 6-foot-2. I’m up there trying to do Michael Jackson moves in too big of a frame, and when you add water to a stage and slick cowboy boots, you go down hard,” he continued. “It’s not alcohol, fans. People are assuming — you can’t just drink a bottle of vodka and go do a two-hour show.”
Bryan noted that he’s “real active on stage,” which has contributed to the accidents, adding, “Even though the content of the songs alludes to drinking. It doesn’t mean I spend my whole life [drinking] while working.”
After making headlines for his recent tumbles, Bryan adopted a positive outlook on the conversation.
“If you’re gonna be stupid, you gotta be tough — I am that,” he concluded. “Somehow I have dodged injury, and I can’t predict when it will happen again. I got really — there were about four in a row, like it was North Carolina only, so people were assuming I was drinking moonshine, but that wasn’t it.”
Bryan previously addressed his now-viral moments after footage surfaced of him abruptly falling on his back after slipping on a fan’s phone. In response to a question from American Idol host Ryan Seacrest on an April episode, Bryan initially pretended he didn’t know what was going on, saying, “What are you talking about, Ryan?”
He added: “I’m all right, baby! [It was] actually the best moment of the night.”
That same month, Bryan offered another clarification but this one was how his “red” eyes and swollen hands weren’t from smoking marijuana.
“Just so we know, if I do interviews and I look like I’ve been smoking pot, that’s not true. I’ve been catching bass,” Bryan told Audacy about his allergy. “If I touch a bass, my eyes will get red, my hands will swell if I have to take the hook out. I’ll get in front of it. I’m like, ‘I know I’m going to fish today,’ so I’ll take an Allegra in the morning.”
The country singer said he “spent years” unaware of his health scare.
“My dad would take me on these fishing trips, and I would be in the back of the boat like wheezing, maybe in need of an EpiPen,” he recalled. “My dad was just like, [‘Suck it up,’] we just thought it was allergies [to] the trees, but it’s actually touching the bass.”
