In a video captured by Dallas resident Maria Perez, Quintanilla can be heard berating audience members he felt weren’t responding with enough enthusiasm and accusing them of acting like “they had a fucking gun to their head.”
“That feels horrible, as a musician, to work so fucking hard over all these years to bring you hits and you guys come here, and you can’t even fucking raise your hands to fucking clap or be happy, man,” he said amid boos from the audience. “You know, that feels sad for us.”
Perez uploaded several videos to TikTok documenting Quintanilla’s performance and eventual tirade. Some of them have millions of views.@eat_teach_repeat #abquintanilla #tejanofest #tejanofest2024 #fiesta2024 #sanantonio ♬ original sound - Always hungry
“There was a huge VIP section in front of the stage with tables and chairs,” Perez explained in the caption of a follow-up video. “The majority of people were sitting and chillin’ because that’s what we want to do.”
The San Antonio Express News reported that Quintanilla apologized to San Antonio and explained himself in a since-deleted Instagram video.
"I’m sad for my words and everything that went on in the concert," he reportedly said in the video. "That’s not me."
He also said that due to a recent cancer scare, his doctors encouraged him to temporarily stop taking medication used to treat bipolar disorder. While Quintanilla is happy to report that he’s cancer-free, his bipolar symptoms resurfaced during the lapse.
“It threw my whole chemistry of my body out of whack,” he reportedly said. “My brain, everything. And I broke, finally."
His onstage rant included threats to never play in San Antonio again, but Quintanilla has since clarified that he loves the city, and his record backs that up. He has played Fiesta several times in the past.
"From the bottom of my heart, I want to apologize to everybody,” he said. “But at the same time, please have a little sympathy with me.”
Comments on Perez’s videos, which call him a “diva” and accuse him of “riding his sister's coattails,” don’t seem to reflect such sympathy. But seeing as his career has survived several scandals and legal battles, he should be able to bounce back from this mishap as well.
Speaking of, Quintanilla is slated to present and perform at KumbiaFest 2024 at Lava Cantina in The Colony on May 16. While there is some standing room, Lava Cantina also has several seated sections. We hope that’s OK with him.
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