Josh Homme Kicks Female

Photographer in the Head at

KROQ Acoustic Christmas
(EXCLUSIVE)
Steve Baltin Dec 10, 2017 10:12am PT

Har/Invision/AP/REX/Shutterstocknone

UPDATED: Queens of the Stone Age frontman Josh Homme

can be seen violently kicking a female photographer in the
face in a video taken at KROQ Acoustic Christmas on
Saturday.

The incident happened during the band’s performance on

night one of the L.A. radio station’s 28th annual holiday
concert on Dec. 9.

Chelsea Lauren, a photographer for Shutterstock, which has

a licensing partership with Variety owner Penske Media,
said the incident was unprovoked and that Homme was even
smiling before he struck her.

“It was obviously very intentional,” she said.

Homme released a statement Sunday, Dec. 10,

characterizing the incident as an accident.

“Last night, while in a state of being lost in performance, I

kicked over various lighting and equipment on our stage,”
the statement reads. “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.”

Later on Sunday night, he addressed the incident in a series

of Instagram videos.

https://www.instagram.com/p/Bcg3ffCjXBw/?taken-
by=chelsealaurenla

Lauren was on one side of the stage while three other

photographers were together on the other side of the stage.
In the video, Homme can be seen walking past Lauren, then
backtracking a step to kick away her camera.

“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,” she said. “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.” Eventually she returned to the
press room, where a rep from KROQ in the press room
received a text from an audience member asking, “Did the
guitarist for Queens Of The Stone Age kick a photographer
in the face?”

Lauren returned to the pit to shoot Thirty Seconds To Mars

and Muse, but went for treatment later that night at Cedars-
Sinai Medical Center. A social worker who looked at the
video while she was at the hospital was one of several
people, including many who have seen the clip on social
media, who have encouraged her to press charges. She
plans to file a police report Sunday.

“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,” the
photographer said. “That’s not right.”

Minutes after the incident, Lauren said Homme took out

what appeared to be a knife and deliberately cut his own
forehead, dripping blood for the rest of the performance.
(Wrestlers call this stunt “blading,” or intentional cutting to
provoke bleeding)

Chelsea Lauren/REX/Shutterstock
Chelsea Lauren/REX/Shutterstock
 REX/Shutterstock

It’s unknown if the 44 year-old Homme was under the

influence of alcohol or drugs on Saturday. At one point, he
called the sold-out audience “retards” before insulting the
night’s headlining act, Muse. “F— Muse!” he exclaimed. He
also encouraged the crowd to boo him, told everyone to take
their pants off, saying, “I want to give you all a night you’ll
never remember.”

Lauren, who spoke to Variety immediately after the incident,

as well as over the phone Sunday morning, said she planned
to return to the Forum to shoot the final night of KROQ’s gala
on Sunday, which features the Killers, Weezer and Phoenix,
but opted not to. “I was getting on the elevator when I
walked past Tim McIlarth from Rise Against,” she said. “He
smiled at me and I was reminded there are a lot of good guys
in music still.”

Homme was sued by an autograph collector in March, who

alleged that the musician was verbally and physically
abusive after a 2016 Iggy Pop concert (with whom Homme
was performing) in Detroit. The lawsuit alleges that Homme 
“intentionally and physically grabbed plaintiff around the
shoulder area” and “said something to the effect of—I am
not signing autographs for you blood sucking eBayers, I am
tired of you making money off me but I will take photos with
you.”

Yet he also is known for calling out hecklers during concerts.

He told NME earlier this year, “Once in Holland, I think it was
the Lowlands Festival, I saw a guy punching a girl in the face,
right by the front row. My whole life, I hate watching people
get bullied and so, in a manner of speaking, you turn and you
try to bully the bully. I have done that many times. I’m the
only one with a mic so I think sometimes it perhaps looks like
I’m bullying somebody – and I actually am.

“I think I’ve always been trying to prune our audience [of]

racist, homophobic, misogynistic assholes,” he continued.
“The idea is to have our audience be an open-minded group
of individuals. I think that’s why even picking Ronson initially
[was] to chase people away.”

Lauren posted an update on Instagram Sunday afternoon:

“Thank you everyone that has reached out with supportive
messages,” she wrote in part. “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.
… Thank you to @variety for their immediate concern and
care with this matter. As of now, nobody from QOTSA has
reached out to me.”

https://www.instagram.com/p/BciIUG4Dh1-/?taken-
by=chelsealaurenla