Stipe 'flipped man out of his wheelchair'

A paralysed singer has recalled how REM frontman Michael Stipe flipped him out of his wheelchair for his own good.

Vic Chesnutt, who covered the band's 'Everybody Hurts' at a tribute show at Carnegie Hall last night, told the New York Post about the incident.

Chesnutt said: "One time in the early '90s, Michael came over to my house.

"He pushed right in the door, pushed me into the living room very forcefully and then flipped me over backwards in my wheelchair and said: 'Look. I heard you're doing drugs. Where are they?'

"He put the fear of God into me. Not the fear of God, but the fear of Michael. So this song - I felt a special connection to it."

Chesnutt added that Stipe's actions put an end to a "very destructive binge" that he was on.

Other acts performing at 'The Music of REM at Carnegie Hall' show included Calexico playing 'Wendell Gee' and Kimya Dawson with Matty Pop Chart singing 'World Leader Pretend'.