Deadmau5 apologizes after blacking out in drunk Coachella set

What was meant to be a powerful late-night set at Coachella turned into a hazy, headline-making moment for Deadmau5. The electronic music veteran, known off-stage as Joel Zimmerman, took the stage on April 18 under his techno alias Testpilot but by the end of the night, he was visibly inebriated, stumbling behind the decks and slurring his words.

The performance, shared with fellow artist Zhu at the Quasar stage, started strong but quickly went off the rails. As the night wore on, Zimmerman began taking shots, and a fan-shot video captured the chaotic conclusion: the two DJs awkwardly wrapping up the set as Deadmau5 shouted, “They were actually like ‘That’s it!’”

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The next morning, Zimmerman took to Instagram to offer a candid apology and some surprising introspection. Alongside a photo of a water bottle, he admitted, “I don’t 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.” In the comments, he added, “Probably my last Coachella.”

He didn’t stop there. In another post featuring his cat, Zimmerman wrote, “even my cat is disappointed in me.” Then came the full reflection: “Sorry about last night,” he said. “To be fair, I felt the first 3/4 was great! Huge shout out to @zhu for introducing me to whisky and carrying my dumb ass till the bitter end. lemme quit smoking, do some fucken [sic] personal resetting here at home, find my spirit animal, work on some new music, and come back better.”


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