UPDATED: R&B singer August Alsina was hospitalized after losing his ability to walk, apparently temporarily, according to an Instagram message he posted from a hospital bed. The ailment caused him to miss his scheduled appearance at the Essence Festival in New Orleans over the weekend.
“Hi guys,” he says in the post, sounding remarkably cheerful. “As you can probably tell I’m in the hospital. So, here’s the stitch. I woke up one day and wasn’t able to walk. I couldn’t feel my legs and my doctor ended up admitting me into the hospital.
“We’re doing a bunch of tests and they’re saying I have some nerve damage going on throughout my body,” he continues. “It’s like my immune system went on vacation. So, I’m just waiting on it to come back and we can get together and it can do what it do, man.”
A rep for the singer tells Variety they hope to have test results in the next few days.
He apologizes in the caption for having to cancel his performance at the Essence festival. “I’m man down right now, & figured I should share.. that My auto immune disease is raging, but im fighting this thing & on my mission to shake back & beable to make it up to you! I got so much NEW NEW to share w/you!” In two subsequent posts he appears singing.
The singer has said in the past that he suffers from an unspecified, hereditary autoimmune disease that attacks the liver.
Alsina released albums on Def Jam in 2014 and 2015 but is no longer with the label.
