A video has surfaced online showing the Queens of the Stone Age frontman kicking a photographer in the face.
The performance took place at KROQ Acoustic Christmas on 9 December. According to Variety, Homme kicked Chelsea Lauren, a photographer for Shutterstock, in an unprovoked attack. She said the incident was “obviously very intentional”.
“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.”
She added, “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.”
Chelsea returned to the press room before continuing to photograph Thirty Seconds to Mars and Muse. Later, she went to the Cedars-Sinai Medical Center for treatment.
Homme has since issued two public apologies. His statement reads: “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.”
In is video, he said, “I’d just like to apologise to Chelsea Lauren. I don’t have any excuse or reason to justify what I did. I was a total dick and I’m truly sorry, and I hope you’re okay. I made a lot of mistakes in my life and last night was definitely one of them, and I apologise for that to you.”
View the video footage and Homme’s statements below.
(via Variety)