A Shutterstock photographer has posted shocking footage of the moment Queens of the Stone Age Frontman Josh Homme kicked her camera whilst she had it held to her face in the pit at their recent concert.
Fstoppers reached out to speak to Chelsea Lauren after she posted a video recorded by a fan in one of the front rows of the gig. The clip below, has now amassed over 100,000 views after the story began gaining traction with news outlets.
Homme can be seen swinging his leg out and kicking Lauren’s camera, which is held to her face, shortly after which she falls to the ground. “It was obviously very intentional,” she recalled of the moment it happened. Lauren even posted the below images, which catch Homme as he clocks the photographer and launches the unprovoked attack. It’s alleged Lauren was not violating any rules and was within the space she was allocated.
Lauren tells Variety:
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 incident has garnered criticism from fans and musicians alike, with DJ Zedd writing on the post, “Wow this is f***ed up!” In the 24 hours since the incident, Homme has released an apology video, which you can see here. He also released this 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.
Shortly after the incident, Homme took out a knife and purposely cut his own forehead, bleeding for the rest of his performance. Lauren is alleged to be filing a police report. “I feel like if I don’t do anything, he gets to kick people in the face and not get in trouble because he’s a musician,” she said. “That’s not right.”
Lead image credit: picjumbo.com, used under Creative Commons.
[via Variety]
I don't buy his justification at all. He's a veteran performer, and he knows exactly where the pit is and what a light looks like vs. a photographer. Even if what he said in his apology is true, it's monumentally stupid to be swinging your leg into the photographer's pit without expecting to hit... a photographer.
Yeah I don't buy that he supposedly meant to kick just the camera as well (not that that is even remotely okay).
Pretty sure he was on some kind of Drug that night. Reading the reddit thread, this isn't a normal thing he does (cutting his head) etc. Something was seriously going on. He was also being completely unlike himself from what I read.
No excuse !
or completely like himself
It is hard for me to wrap my head around. It looks 100% on purpose. There is a cadence to the walk that breaks when he looks back and extends to aim the kick.
This is why I don't go to concerts.
that doesn't make any sense... not all musicians are asswholes and it's not like there's a 50% chance you get kicked in the head if you're photographing in the pit....
What a dumb thing to do... I've been a fan since Kyuss and I remember a fan tossed a beer bottle on stage and Josh grabbed it and instead of tossing it back, he beamed it back at the audience in the direction it arrived from. I get rock and roll isn't nice, but unprovoked assault just isn't something you can do. The irony is they were playing The Evil Has Landed... #disappointed
clearly on purpose. hope he gets to answer for his actions. as simple as that.
Glad Chelsea is ok.
What a bad decision. Like he has poor impulse control... Clearly Josh was using a recreational drug or two. Ketamine? Let's hope he gets help and finds sobriety.
The title is wrong. She was kicked in the face by way of her camera, not in the head. That’s a whole lot more serious.
So now... like cars.... better have a hot shoe (dash) cam
Off topic: Well I really think dash cams should become standard to all vehicles.
The next time, I hope he breaks his leg, the ass hole..