On Saturday night, at the seventh annual Global Citizen Festival, Cardi B performed her first solo set since giving birth.
While on the Central Park stage, the rapper performed hits from Invasion of Privacy such as “Bodak Yellow,” “Be Careful,” “I Like It,” and “Drip.” She also offered encouragement to show up to the polls for the upcoming midterm elections, as well as some jabs aimed at President Donald Trump (though she didn’t explicitly use his name).
“Last election, everybody took it as a joke,” she said. “Even me, I’m not even gonna front, because I thought, ‘Man, that person ain’t gonna win’ and look where we are now. We need to vote so we change our community. We need somebody that’s gonna represent us, that’s gonna protect us. We don’t need somebody that’s gonna be arguing with ballplayers.”
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Around the same time as Cardi B’s set, a barrier collapsed elsewhere in the park. The audience, mistaking the noise for gunshots, began to run. This created a sense of confusion and panic for several minutes.
According to the New York Times, no injuries were reported, but many on social media took the reaction to the noise as an indication of how people in the United States have become accustomed to mass shootings in public settings.
A fence falling at the Global Citizen Festival made people think there was a shooting and people started to freak out. It's so sad that we are so conditioned to mass shootings that something like a fence falling can cause mass panic and chaos at a charity festival.
— Azya (@Azthecutest) September 29, 2018
A barrier fell at the Global Citizen Festival in NYC, people thought it was gunshots, and pandemonium occurred.
— Mike McGranaghan (@AisleSeat) September 29, 2018
This is the world we now live in. This is how common mass shootings are.
Scary moment at the #GlobalCitizen Festival in NYC, live on @MSNBC: A fence barrier collapsed, the noise was startling, some attendees thought it sounded like gunshots, and there was a stampede. MSNBC cut to commercial, then came back and explained what happened. pic.twitter.com/SumPbM6GC5
— Brian Stelter (@brianstelter) September 30, 2018
After the cause for the sound and ensuing panic had been established, Coldplay’s Chris Martin took to the stage to reassure the audience they were safe.
"There's no need to push people out of the way. What happened was that a barrier fell down," Martin said in a video posted on Twitter by MSNBC. "Of course it caused people to be a little bit frightened. But nobody is trying to hurt anybody and you're all safe. I just want to tell you that. As far as I know, when you guys are ready, we can watch Janet Jackson."