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DJ Deadmau5 has issued an apology to his fans for his drunken Coachella set last week. The Canadian musician took to his Instagram on Saturday, April 19, 2025, to acknowledge that he was intoxicated, noting he didn't remember a thing.
Deadmau5, whose real name is Joel Zimmerman, returned to the Quasar stage on Friday, April 18, for a show featuring a lineup consisting of his alter ego Testpilot and electronic music artist Zhu. According to Variety, the pair's performance was cut short after the Canadian DJ appeared visibly drunk with slurred speech.
He shared a series of IG posts expressing his regret. One featured a photo of a water bottle with the caption:
"I dont remember a thing. But I don't think I had a cig? So... that's good I guess? Going back to bed. Wake me up around Thursday ish."
Deadmau5 had to be escorted off stage by bouncers after he fell behind the DJ booth
According to Variety, Deadmau5 was reportedly seen and heard taking a number of shots, so many that he began to stammer and stumbled while climbing stairs. Videos from the evening showed he sprayed Silly String on Zhu as the latter tried to DJ. Eventually, Zimmerman fell over behind the booth, and bouncers had to escort him off stage.
Under the comments of his Instagram post, the musician noted that this would probably be his last Coachella performance.
In a subsequent IG share, the musician posted a picture of his cat, noting that even she would be disappointed in him in the caption. He continued to apologize to his fans, adding:
"TO BE FAIR, I felt the first 3/4 was great! Huge shout out to @zhu for introducing me to whisky and carrying my d*mb a** till the bitter end."
He promised to reset and come back with new music.
Fellow artists Claude VonStroke and Taylor Torrence were quick to offer support, noting that it wasn't a big deal. The former commented that every musician has had at least "one bad show."
Zimmerman and Zhu were not the only back-to-backs at Coachella. Over the weekend, the Quasar stage saw sets from Kaskade, Idris Elba, Alesso, and Gorgon City.
According to Variety, last year, the DJ poked fun at Grimes for her performance at the festival that was laden with technical issues. During the last day of Electric Daisy Carnival (EDC) in May, Zimmerman sampled clips of Grimes addressing the set before launching into his mixes. When CBA questioned his move in a June 2024 interview, the DJ explained:
"It's just fun, OK? And heaven forbid we have a little fun, some screaming and some laughs at a music festival. It'd be really weird if we didn't. It'd be very unmemorable if we were all very serious."
Deadmau5 (pronounced dead mouse) is a Canadian electronic music producer and DJ primarily focused on house music. However, he has dabbled in other genres under the alias Testpilot. The artist is known for incorporating the mau5head helmet during his shows.
The DJ first gained recognition in 2008 for his album Random Album Title. The project earned him two Juno Awards. Some of his other charting singles include Aural Psynapse, The Veldt, and Seeya.
The DJ is currently doing his ongoing residency at XS in Las Vegas. He is also set to perform at Junction 2 in London in July, followed by the North Coast Music Festival in Chicago next month. He will also play at Elements in Pennsylvania, the same month.
