QUEENS OF THE STONE AGE // Josh Homme Kicks Photographer During Show

UPDATE: Homme has issued an apology to the photographer, claiming that he “did not mean” for the incident to happen” and he was “lost in the performance”.

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— QOTSA (@qotsa) December 10, 2017

ORIGINAL STORY:

Shocking footage has emerged this morning of Queens Of The Stone Age frontman Josh Homme kicking photographer Chelsea Lauren in the face during a concert for KROQ’s Almost Acoustic Christmas.

Thanks to @joshhomme @queensofthestoneage I now get to spend my night in the ER. Seriously, WHO DOES THAT?!? #joshhomme #queensofthestoneage #qotsa #qotsafamily #concertphotography #musicphotographer

A post shared by Chelsea Lauren (@chelsealaurenla) on Dec 9, 2017 at 11:38pm PST

Homme is shown performing a guitar solo before clearly looking at and intentionally swinging his foot into the face of Lauren when walking back across the stage. Watch the footage below.

Lauren later published a statement on Instagram telling followers that she was recovering at a nearby hospital.

“I saw him coming over and I was shooting away” Lauren stated, “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.”

Thank you everyone that has reached out with supportive messages. A small update, as I’m being flooded with questions: My neck is a sore, my eyebrow bruised and I’m a bit nauseous. The doctor released me early in the morning. Here are three images. Two of them as Josh looked at me, smiled and then kicked me. The other one is later after he cut his own face with a knife. I was in the pit in tears – and he just stared at me smiling. Assault in any form is not okay, no matter what the reasoning. Alcohol and drugs are no excuse. I was where I was allowed to be, I was not breaking any rules. I was simply trying to do my job. I hold nobody accountable for this but Josh himself. KROQ has nothing to do with this and I will always support them. The irony is someone had thrown an ice cube on to the very slick catwalk before the QOTSA set. I was afraid that one of the band members might slip and hurt themselves so, when the lights went dark, I used my arm to wipe down the runway so nobody would hurt themselves. Thank you to @variety for their immediate concern and care with this matter. As of now, nobody from QOTSA has reached out to me. #queensofthestoneage #QOTSA #JoshHomme

A post shared by Chelsea Lauren (@chelsealaurenla) on Dec 10, 2017 at 11:22am PST

Prior to the incident Homme was reported to be behaving erratically, repeatedly yelling “Fuck Muse” (who were the headliners of the event), whilst encouraging the crowd to boo him.

After the incident Homme used a knife to cut himself in the head, and can be seen bleeding in several photos.

Homme has always had his fair share of controversy, but this incident is no doubt well beyond the line of both respectful behaviour and abuse of power.

In a time where the spotlight is shining ever brighter on the actions of those experiencing the benefits of male privilege, the incident will no doubt reflect negatively on both the band and the alternative music culture at large.

Lauren has told Variety Magazine that she plans to press charges against the singer.