‘Boo Yourselves’: A.B. Quintanilla Goes on Rant During Live Performance, Later Apologizes

A.B. Quintanilla III is in hot water for a recent rant amid a live performance. On Apr. 27, the Mexican-American producer and musician expressed his feelings during his set with Los Kumbia King All Starz at the Tejano Explosion 2024, which took place in San Antonio, TX, from April 18 to 27. He later apologized for the situation.

In the now-viral video, Quintanilla said he was sad that the crowd wasn’t hyped. “[It’s] like somebody put a gun to your head and forced you to be here tonight,” he said. “And that feels horrible. As a musician, to work so f*cking hard over all these years to bring you hits, and you guys come here, and you can’t even f*cking raise your hands to f*cking clap or be happy, man. You know, that feels sad for us.”

He then said he would take his music somewhere else and how it would be the last Tejano Explosion performance he’ll ever do. He also compared how he perceived to be received, mentioning how he traveled from Las Vegas, NV, where he lives and receives love, and said it’s “not acceptable” for him not to get the same love in his hometown.

Later, the crowd began booing him, prompting him to tell the audience: “Boo yourselves for not participating in the show. I’m trying to show y’all love through music, man.” He then brung up his late sister, Selena Quintanilla, and said that although she’s not here anymore, people were left with the successful Selena movie and Netflix series. He also said he continues to represent everyone in spaces like the Latin American Music Awards, where he performed last week. Towards the end of the rant, he said that the audience’s boos don’t affect him.

The next day (Apr. 28), he uploaded an apology video. In the now-deleted video, he shared a personal health matter, saying that he had a cancer scare three weeks ago. A.B. explained that during the waiting period for his results, his doctors advised him not to take certain medications that he says “came around” after Selena’s death. “I became bipolar, I became OCD, ADD, PSTD. I’m on the spectrum, basically,” he said. 

He also noted that when he’s not taking his medication, things like what happened the night before occur. He said it was very embarrassing and “the scariest thing.” Quintanilla then apologized from “the bottom of [his] heart” for “episode” due to his health scare and said that it “was not [him].” A.B. also unveiled that the cancer results were negative.