The event took place at the Great Lawn in Central Park, New York City.
Grammy Award-winning singer Tyla briefly paused her performance at the 2025 Global Citizen Festival to assist a fan in the audience.
The event took place at the Great Lawn in Central Park, New York City, on Saturday, 27 September.
Tyla was performing her hit song Water to a crowd of more than 60 000 people when she noticed distress in the audience.
She immediately stopped the music to check on fans.
“Someone needs help here? Are you guys okay?” she asked, pointing to the crowd.
“Guys, they need help over there. Sorry, stop [the music],” she added, pausing her DJ.
After the situation was resolved, she asked: “You good? Everybody okay? Should I sing it again?” before restarting the song.
Tyla made headlines recently after Nigerian star Tiwa Savage apologised on her behalf over the use of the word “Coloured” during an interview on The Breakfast Club.
As a global star, Tyla has embraced her identity as a Coloured woman, a term commonly used in South Africa to describe mixed-race individuals.
In the United States (US), however, the word is regarded as a racial slur.
Tiwa apologises on behalf of Tyla
During her appearance on The Breakfast Club on iHeartRadio, Tiwa Savage said she understood the sensitivity of the term in America.
“I would get why that would be such a huge thing here, because of the history behind that name,” Savage said.
“I think I felt for her a little bit because she is young and I do not think she means to come across like that.
“Where I am from, when something like this happens, the elderly would come and speak ‘on behalf of’.
“We apologise. So if that was not communicated, I would like to say on behalf of her, we apologise. We did not mean it, forgive us. I do not think it came from a bad place.”
‘I have never denied my blackness’
Tyla previously addressed the racial debate in a post on X.
“I’m mixed with Black/Zulu, Irish, Mauritian/Indian, and Coloured. In South Africa I would be classified as a Coloured woman and in other places I would be classified as a Black woman.
“Race is classified differently in different parts of the world.
“I don’t expect to be identified as Coloured outside of South Africa by anyone not comfortable doing so, because I understand the weight of that word outside of SA.
“But to close this conversation, I’m both Coloured in South Africa and a Black woman…”
