Harry Belafonte Denies He Fell Asleep During Live Interview

The puns started writing themselves the moment a video of Harry Belafonte apparently sleeping during a live interview emerged online. However, they were all uncalled for, his rep is saying in a statement.

The “incident” occurred during an interview the iconic singer was supposed to give this past Friday on his book, his latest album and his HBO documentary.

Video of it is below, embedded at the end of the article.

After claims that Belafonte simply fell asleep and couldn’t wake up because he had switched off his earpiece, his rep has issued a statement to say that was far from the case.

In fact, he says, Harry was meditating, not sleeping.

“After weeks of literally hundreds of interviews promoting his HBO documentary [Sing Your Song], memoir and CD, Mr. Belafonte had an early morning satellite TV tour this past Friday,” Ken Sunshine, Belafonte’s rep, says in a statement to People magazine.

As if that wasn’t enough, there was also a technical glitch.

“His earpiece wasn’t working, so he decided to take the time to meditate before the rest of his Day-O,” the rep says.

In other words, he wasn’t sleeping. Not only that but, the rep goes on to say, he was more awake than the very anchormen who made fun of the incident live of air.

“Mr. Belafonte is 84 years young, but sharper and more awake than most who have been interviewing him. Maybe the world would be a better place if more people took a moment to meditate,” Sunshine says.

The video shows the local anchorwoman greeting the iconic singer via satellite and getting zero response from him. He’s sitting in a chair, arms folded and eyes closed and he appears to be sleeping profoundly.

“Harry? Wake up, wake up. He’s taking a little nap,” the anchorwoman says. As per Belafonte’s rep, no, he wasn’t.