On December 9, 2017, Queens of the Stone Age frontman Josh Homme kicked Shutterstock photographer Chelsea Lauren in the face while she was taking pictures from the front row during a concert event in Los Angeles. Lauren said she believed the contact was intentional and described the moment this way: “Josh was coming over and I was pretty excited, I€™ve never actually photographed Queens Of The Stone Age before, I was really looking forward to it. I saw him coming over and I was shooting away. The next thing I know his foot connects with my camera and my camera connects with my face, really hard. He looked straight at me, swung his leg back pretty hard and full-blown kicked me in the face. He continued performing, I was startled, I kind of stopped looking at him, I just got down and was holding my face because it hurt so badly.”
The following day, Homme released a statement saying that he had been “lost in performance” while kicking over lighting and equipment and that he did not realize this included Lauren’s camera until afterward. He said he did not mean for it to happen, apologized to Lauren, and said he would “never intentionally cause harm to anyone” working at or attending his shows. The apology framed the incident as an accident shaped by the conditions of the performance rather than as a deliberate assault. Others at the show, however, corroborated Lauren’s account, and the incident was captured on a concertgoer’s smartphone. Reports also noted other disturbing behavior during the performance, including Homme cutting his own forehead with a blade, insulting audience members, and mocking Muse, another band in the lineup.
Key Apologia Strategies:
Defeasibility, Accident
Video
Transcript
Josh Homme Official Statement:
“Last night, while in a state of being lost in performance, I kicked over various lighting and equipment on our stage. Today it was brought to my attention that this included a camera held by photographer Chelsea Lauren. I did not mean for that to happen and I am very sorry. I would never intentionally cause harm to anyone working at or attending one of our shows and I hope Chelsea will accept my sincere apology.
