DREAM THEATER drummer Mike Portnoy is in hot water with some of the group's Chilean fans after he posted a message on his Twitter profile stating that he "can't wait to . . . get the hell outta" the country following his band's concert Friday night (March 12) at the Movistar Arena in Santiago.

At least three separate earthquakes or aftershocks rocked Chile yesterday (Thursday, March 11), prompting a tsunami warning, although no tsunami is reported to have surfaced. The 8.8 earthquake which happened on February 27, 2010 caused a tsunami 6,700 miles away on the shores of the American Hawaiian Islands.

"Just had our fourth aftershock of the day here in Santiago," Portnoy tweeted yesterday. "Totally scary stuff ... can't wait to play the show and get the hell outta here!"

After several of the band's Chilean fans took offense at Portnoy's comments, with some going so far as to call him a coward, the drummer once again took to his Twitter account and wrote, "I can't believe there are Chileans that are bad-mouthing me and calling me a coward because we are not exactly comfortable in their earthquake. We came to Santiago to play for our great fans here ... I'm sorry if the constant aftershocks have us slightly weirded out and uncomfortable."
He later posted another message in an attempt to clarify his comments and issued yet another apology.

"Sorry if my wording came off wrong," Portnoy wrote. "Obviously we love our fans down here or we wouldn't be here right now ... we're just not used to this. Let's all calm down ... pray for the earthquakes and aftershocks to stop ... and have a great show tomorrow night with our great fans in Chile!"