Megan Thee Stallion left in tears on stage after explicit AI content of her goes viral

Megan Thee Stallion was visibly emotional during her performance in Tampa, Florida on Saturday night.

The Grammy winner, 29, struggled to hold back tears as she began singing her hit song Cobra at the Amalie Arena during her Hot Girl Summer Tour.

In a viral fan video, the rapper paused with tears welling up in her eyes, momentarily lowering her head to regain composure.

She began singing as the music started but had to pause after just a few bars to steady herself. The WAP hitmaker then regained her composure, swaying to the beat as she resumed rapping, encouraged by the cheering crowd.

It's unclear what caused the American star to become emotional but she recently condemned “sickening” fake AI footage of herself circulating on social media.

The clips were widely shared on X, formerly Twitter, prompting the singer to address the situation in a brief statement.

On June 8, she penned: “It's really sick how yall go out of the way to hurt me when you see me winning.

“Yall going too far, Fake a** s**t. Just know today was your last day playing with me and I mean it.”

The Standard has reached out to Megan thee Stallion’s rep for comment.

The American star isn’t the only female celebrity to be targeted with explicit AI-generated content.

In January, social media platform X blocked some Taylor Swift-related search terms after explicit content featuring the star, 34, was widely circulating on the site.

Searches for Swift’s name on the platform - formerly known as Twitter - now come back with the message: “Something went wrong. Try reloading.”

Reports suggest people could view the content for as long as 19 hours on X before action was taken.

Explicit fake images of Swift were also circulated on Facebook and Reddit but not as prolifically.

X released a statement about the move. It read at the time: “This is a temporary action and done with an abundance of caution as we prioritise safety on this issue.”