The lead vocalist of Korn talks about his battle with Covid-19 that left him 'totally wiped out,' defending decision to resume the group's tour after he and bandmates contracted the virus.
- Nov 22, 2021
AceShowbiz - Korn star Jonathan Davis has opened up about his COVID battle, which forced the rock band to reschedule and scrap a series of shows over the summer, revealing the virus totally wiped him out.
Davis tested positive for the coronavirus in August (21), weeks before bandmates James "Munky" Shaffer and Ray Luzier also became infected, and in a new interview with Lou Brutus of HardDrive Radio, the singer admits he thought he had "dodged a bullet" after his girlfriend tested positive.
"I kept testing. I was, like, negative, negative, negative," he says. "Then I tested positive and I was scared s**tless. I was freaking out. They rushed me right to the hospital and they did all these tests on me. They said, 'OK, it doesn't look like you have the markers for the bad (COVID-19). We'll let you go.' "
"It never went into my lungs but I was totally wiped out. I couldn't move - just the body aches. I didn't eat for a month, damn near. But thank God it didn't get into my lungs; that would have freaked me really out. I got through it and tested negative on the 25th (August), I think, and I played a show the next day. I was beat up, but I just couldn't find it in my heart (to cancel)... I just wanted to get through it because I saw how happy people were to see live music. And I just didn't wanna let anyone down."
Davis performed a series of shows from a chair onstage and took regular hits of oxygen to get through shows.
"I'm, like, 'I'm gonna just sit down and get through this... and I'm just gonna give it all,' " he recalls. "And we just pulled it off. I did the whole tour. Unfortunately, Munky got it and Ray got it. But we got through it. We just had some bad luck. But it is what it is. And we're here, all alive and happy. So it was overall a good thing."
