Following a series of recent spate of fatal shootings in the US, Eminem has been criticised for using what appeared to be gunshot sound effects at a festival in Tennessee.
Concert-goers at the Bonnaroo music festival panicked when gunfire FX was used at the close of one of Eminem's songs.
Fans screamed and ducked when loud blasts rang out during the star's performance of Kill You.
Afterwards, some fans called Eminem's performance on Saturday irresponsible but a representative for the rapper denied he had used gunshot effects.
Less than a year after Vegas and @Eminem thinks it’s a good idea to blast gun shot sfx onstage at a music festival? Bad call on this headliner @bonnaroo. What happened to Radiate Positivity?
— Brad King (@BradKing32) June 10, 2018
"The effect used by Eminem in his set at Bonnaroo was a pyrotechnic concussion which creates a loud boom," a spokesperson said in a statement.
"He has used this effect - as have hundreds of other artists - in his live show for over 10 years, including previous US festival dates, without complaint."
Shortly before Bon Iver’s set, Eminem was using fake gun shots throughout the show. After the first shot, no one knew what was going on. Although I quickly realized it was part of his set, there were Parkland students at the festival. I can’t imagine what they felt.
— Stephanie Bourgeois (@stephanie_roseb) June 10, 2018
One concert-goer at Bonnaroo, which takes place in the town of Manchester in Tennessee, said they left the show because of the "panic".
However, other fans defended Eminem and pointed out that he had used gunshot sound effects throughout his career - including a performance at the Governor's Ball Music Festival in New York City last week.
Eminem performing kill you at Governors Ball 2018 NYC
— BIG Hawat (@eliohawat) June 10, 2018
You can hear the same sound at the end you idiots
Watch some Eminem performance before going to one 😑 pic.twitter.com/koCMykLNpo
