CeeLo Green Falls Off Horse at Shawty Lo’s Birthday Party

CeeLo Green fell off a horse at a tribute party to celebrate the late rapper Shawty Lo in Atlanta Wednesday night. In honor of what would not have been the late rapper’s 47th birthday, an event was held at The Bank in his hometown of Atlanta, Georgia on March 22. Footage from the party shows CeeLo as he rode in on a horse to surprise everyone as the party’s host. However, he didn’t appear comfortable when the colt became agitated as soon as it entered the noisy, crowded club. There were several attempts by the animal’s handlers to calm down the horse, but it didn’t seem to work; the horse’s knees buckled, and CeeLo fell off. As he rolled on the ground and then stood, people managed to steady him. CeeLo was not injured, according to TMZ, and while he attempted to repurpose the tumble and turn it into dance moves, the damage had already been done as he soon became the target of a number of jokes.

V-103 radio personality Lil Bankhead uploaded footage of CeeLo’s fall to social media, igniting a frenzy of commentary. “WTH!!!” fellow Atlanta artist Jermaine Dupri wrote in the comments section, and Waka Flocka Flame added, “don’t be madd at me OG!” In the aftermath, PETA is now coming out in condemnation of CeeLo, telling TMZ, “It doesn’t take a genius to know that horses don’t belong at a noisy, crowded party, where slippery floors and strobe lights can agitate these vulnerable animals. If CeeLo bumped his head, PETA’s hoping it knocked some sense and compassion into him.” The animal rights organization continued, “PETA encourages others to not follow in his footsteps, use common senses and kindness and leave animals alone.”

Despite the controversy, Wednesday’s party carried on in Shawty Lo’s honor, who tragically died in a single-car accident in Fulton County in 2016 as a result of blunt force trauma to the head after his car went over a guardrail, collided with trees, and caught fire. In November, Gucci Mane memorialized Shawty Lo in his tribute to Takeoff, entitled “Letter to Takeoff.” He released two solo albums during the course of his career, including his 2008 debut Units in the City, which peaked at No. 13 on the Billboard 200 and was boosted by the success of the hit song “Dey Know.” CeeLo hasn’t released much music lately, but he did appear alongside Eminem on the soundtrack for the Elvis biopic last year for the song “The King and I.”.