The Trend of Fans Throwing Objects at Artists Onstage Is Growing: “It’s a Little Disturbing”
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Kelly Clarkson remembers singing with her eyes closed when a fan rushed onstage to embrace her.
“I don’t know to this day how security [didn’t catch this person],” Clarkson tells The Hollywood Reporter. “They were a sweet fan who wanted to hug me and just chose poorly how to do it.”
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“When your eyes are closed and you’re singing and you’re vulnerable in this space and someone just kind of attacks you like that — that really was not a good experience for me,” she adds.
Similar scenarios have been repeated during live shows over the years, but in recent weeks things have taken a turn and artists have been extremely violated while performing, from a concertgoer hurling a cellphone at Bebe Rexha to an attendee rushing to the stage to smack Ava Max in her eye.
During the opening night of his It’s All a Blur Tour on Wednesday, Drake was hit in the arm when a fan launched a phone at him; country singer Kelsea Ballerini was hit in the face after someone tossed a bracelet at her; a fan threw a sex toy at Lil Nas X during a headlining show; and an attendee upset Lisa from Blackpink after throwing a teddy bear at her. A fan even shocked Pink when they placed their mother’s ashes in front of the singer during a live show.
“Is this your mom? I don’t know how to feel about this,” Pink said.
Harry Styles dealt with fans tossing Skittles at him last year, hitting him the eye, and Billie Eilish has had various incidents during her concerts, from fans throwing objects to her onstage to someone grabbing the performer around the neck when she approached the crowd to sing.
“Excitement makes you be kinda stupid sometimes,” Eilish told Vanity Fair.
Even Adele got involved in the conversation, recently warning her fans at her Las Vegas residency: “Fucking dare you. Dare you to throw something at me.
“Have you noticed how people are, like, forgetting fucking show etiquette in America?” she asked the crowd. “They’re just throwing shit onstage.”
Harvey Mason Jr. — the president and CEO of The Recording Academy and producer-songwriter who has worked with Beyoncé, Justin Timberlake and Aretha Franklin — called the actions by fans “very unfortunate.”
“This is something that to me is disappointing because generally music is thought to bring people together, and music and singers and artists generally make people feel good and unified and uplifted. So to see somebody that was angry enough to try and harm someone performing and putting their heart and their talent out on display is sad and it’s a little disturbing. I hope that it doesn’t continue to be a trend,” he tells THR.
“One of my biggest focuses and our mission at the Academy is to protect artists, to protect creators and people who make this incredible music, so when we see them being harmed in any way, whether that’s by a fan or in advancement in a technology, or by the lack of legislation, we are going to try and activate however we can to be protective,” he continued.
Rexha posted her bruised eye on social media following the incident, referencing her current hit with David Guetta in her caption: “Im good.” The Grammy-nominated song, “I’m Good (Blue),” is spending its 41st week on top of Billboard’s Hot Dance/Electronic Songs chart and is the second-longest No. 1 hit in the chart’s history.
Rexha was immediately met with support on social media, with friends like Katy Perry and Coi Leray cheering her on. “Love you girly,” Demi Lovato wrote. “I’m so sorry this happened to you.”
Ava Max, whose multiplatinum hits include “Sweet but Psycho” and “Kings & Queens,” said the male concertgoer who ambushed her stage slapped her so hard “he scratched the inside of my eye. He’s never coming to a show again.” And Ballerini posted that she was doing fine after being hit in the face, though she added: “Let’s just do a better job of keeping each other safe at shows.”
“It’s quite concerning,” says Todd Dukes, who works in executive protection for Justin Timberlake and has also guarded NSYNC, Backstreet Boys and Nick Jonas.
“I don’t know what the mindsets of the fans are right now,” he continues. “As a security professional, it makes it a little bit more difficult. It makes it harder.”
Dukes, who owns the security company Secworldwide, says it’s important for him and his team to always be on guard during live shows. He adds that local security, typically inside the barricades separating the fans from the stage, must be “aware of what’s going on.”
“You will sometimes get them looking back at the stage and you’re always like, ‘Hey, make sure you pay attention. Keep your head straight. Be aware of what’s happening with the audience — for the artist’s safety as well as the patrons’ safety,'” he says.
Fans have always interacted with performers during live shows, and some things tossed onstage are nonthreatening, including panties, bras and flowers. Dukes said when NSYNC and Backstreet Boys were on tour two decades ago, excited fans had a chance to share gifts during preshows so that they wouldn’t throw items onstage during live shows. “We would just literally make that announcement and say, ‘Hey, go ahead, throw all the gifts you have onstage at preshow.'”
He said announcements are still extremely important today to remind fans of what they shouldn’t be doing — no matter their intention. “As innocent as you might think, ‘Hey, do not do this. Do not throw this onstage. Do not do this,’ it’s almost like you have to say things that should be common sense because they’re not so common anymore,” he says.
Clarkson says one live concert that shook her to the core was the deadly Route 91 Harvest Music Festival in Las Vegas in 2017, when a high-roller gambler opened fire and killed 60 people and injured hundreds more. It took place as Jason Aldean performed onstage (he and Clarkson collaborated on the Grammy-nominated duet “Don’t You Wanna Stay.”)
“That, I mean, sent me into [thinking], ‘I don’t know if I’m ever going out again.’ That really scared me because I have children and I’m like, ‘Is this more important than possibly getting shot because someone’s angry, and not being there for my kids?’ You start weighing the importance and perspective comes into play,” she recalls. “That hit me a while back.”
But Clarkson adds that “you have to let go of the fact that you cannot control people. You can live your life in fear of what might happen, or you can live your life how you want to live your life.
“I tend to, once I get onstage, get lost in whatever song I’m singing and go with it. And I’m very blessed for that because I know a lot of people can get paralyzed by fear of something, which is a legit reason and concern,” she adds. “I don’t want to be that example, I guess, for my kids. You can’t stop doing things because you’re afraid. You can’t stop going to the movies because you heard somebody shot up a movie. It’s like, ‘Don’t let them win.’ But also, you got to see whatever you feel safe with and comfortable with.”
Secworldwide’s Dukes hopes the trend of throwing objects onstage dies down and that fans seriously think twice about their actions, which could land them in jail or in a lawsuit.
“If you’re a fan, why would you do that?” he asks. “People are not coming to shows and thinking, ‘Oh, this will be funny.’ It’s on TikTok and you’re seeing people do really crazy, dangerous things for views.”
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