Fantasia Calls Out Fans for Being on Phones at Concert: ‘Y'all Can’t Have Fun Because You Be Too Busy Trying to Film Stuff’

Unless a concert is pre-recorded or livestreamed, cell phone recording has become the traditional method that fans use to rewatch their favorite performances. But for Fantasia, concertgoers being on their phones for most of the show is misisng the point.

The Color Purple star held a live engagement at the Aretha Franklin Amphitheater in Detroit last Friday (July 12), where she urged fans to put their phones down while she sang.

"So I wanna tell you now," the American Idol winner began. "We're living in a world where y'all can't have fun because you've been too busy trying to film stuff. So wack now."

She continued, "And we as performers, we be up here working and y'all [gestures holding up phone]...You know the money that you pay in here tonight you could've done something else with it. So if you paid the money, you might as well get your [money's worth]."

The artist then invited a fan to take a picture with her, joking, "Young people, he can't take it–he's about to have a heart attack...Now you got your picture, put your phone down. We gon' show y'all what a party really looks like."

On social media, Fantasia's reaction sparked conversation about how often attendees watch concert footage, versus others who expressed that artists shouldn't care about how audiences enjoy themselves.

Busta Rhymes felt a similar way at the 30th Essence Festival of Culture, where he slammed the crowd for using phones, or "weird-ass devices," to record.

"Ayo, fuck them camera phones, too," he said in the clip below. "Let's get back to interacting like humans. Put them weird-ass devices down," Busta shouted, as seen in video from the livestreamed concert below. "I ain't from that era. Them shits don't control the soul. Fuck your phone."