Backlash followed a video showing 10-year-old girl in a children’s chorus suddenly falling during a live performance on Georgia’s Public Broadcaster, with critics accusing adults and TV staff of negligence as it appeared the girl remained on the floor without attention until the performance ended about two minutes later. The TV station and chorus later rejected claims that the incident was intentionally ignored.
The video, which went viral, was posted on June 10 by Nino Kukhaleishvili, the grandmother of the girl, Anka, who fell. Recorded from inside the studio in what the Public Broadcaster and the chorus later said was not captured by broadcast camera angles, the girl, one of around 30 children, can be seen in the back row suddenly falling during the performance, apparently due to fainting. The footage shows the fall drawing quick reaction from some of the children standing beside her, but the group, along with four men standing and singing next to them, continues the performance, which lasts for around two more minutes.
Saying that adults later stated they could hear the fall, Kukhaleishvili added that the girl standing next to her granddaughter leaned toward her, “but, as if signaled to continue, the performance goes on,” and that “for three minutes, the child remains unattended on the floor” without anyone knowing her condition. She also noted that children quickly gather around the girl after the performance ends, suggesting that the fall had been noticed. The footage from that moment shows men who were singing beside the chorus quickly looking toward the children.
The video drew wider public backlash, with viewers criticizing the men and TV staff for what they believe was indifference as the singing continued, while the Public Broadcaster and the Song Academy, the group that performed, later issued statements rejecting claims that the girl’s fall was noticed and deliberately ignored by adults or responsible personnel.
Noting that the girl is fine, with minor injuries to her fingers, her grandmother said, “It was the result of an inadequate response from adults and a very difficult lesson for everyone involved.”
The Song Academy rejected what it called “incorrect interpretations” of the incident as if the girl was “deliberately” left without attention. In a June 11 statement, it said that during the live broadcast, “due to stage lighting, loud music and the audio system, the moment of the fall could not be seen by group heads,” adding that “the incident does not appear on the television broadcast at all.” It said the heads only heard the sound of the fall and, “upon looking in its direction, saw the child sitting among her fellow performers.”
“After reviewing the incident, it was established that the only people who directly saw the moment of the fall were the children standing next to her, who immediately reacted and spoke to her,” it added.
The Public Broadcaster also issued a statement on June 11, noting that the video footage does not reflect the broadcast angle and that its staff present in the studio could not see the incident.
“Otherwise, appropriate measures would have been taken immediately, including, if necessary, interrupting the live broadcast,” it said.
