Aerosmith frontman and "American Idol" judge Steven Tyler told "Today" host Matt Lauer he was sober when he fell in a shower in Paraguay earlier this week, getting a black eye and losing two teeth.
Tyler, whose band is touring South America, said he had been battling food poisoning when he passed out in the shower and fell. He said his tour manager found a hospital where they "stitched up my eye, they did a little plastic surgery, and they fixed my tooth all in one fell swoop."
Lauer noted that fans familiar with Tyler's history of drug and alcohol abuse were certain to wonder whether it was a "fall in the shower or a fall off the wagon."
"Peope thinking that is natural and normal," Tyler said. "We flew last night from Paraguay after that incident and we're in — where are we now? — Argentina for two hours. And if anybody knew anybody that used substances, they wouldn't be up the hour after having a talk with Matt Lauer and the rest of America."
He more explicitly denied drug or alcohol issues by adding: "It's not the issue."
Tyler said Aerosmith put on one of its best shows Wednesday night, after his injury. The concert was postponed by one night because of the fall.
"Short of having my leg torn off, people are going to expect me to hit the stage no matter what. … I pulled myself up by my bootheels, and went out on stage, wore my sunglases for the first song, and I took 'em off and the crowd roared because they knew that I had fallen down," he said. "We broke the house record. Not only did I break my face but the next night we broke the house record."
He closed with a pun: "You can't handle the tooth."
