Josh Homme Apologizes After Kicking Photographer At Queens Of The Stone Age Show

Queens of the Stone Age performed Saturday night at KROQ’s Almost Acoustic Christmas at The Forum outside Los Angeles. During their set, frontman Josh Homme kicked photographer Chelsea Lauren in the face, sending her to a nearby hospital for medical care.

In response to the incident, the band initially issued a written statement on Homme’s behalf stating he was in “a state of being lost in performance.” He has since followed up with a second video apology.

Homme’s behavior during the concert purported included cutting himself with a small blade which cause his forehead to bleed and shouting “Fuck Muse!,” regarding the band headlining Saturday’s event. Homme originally claimed the incident with Lauren, who works for Shutterstock, was an accident and that he did not see her among other equipment he was kicking. Lauren told Variety she intends to file a police report for what she called an “obviously very intentional” act.

A follow-up video posted by QOTSA features Homme further addressing the incident with Lauren and taking full responsibility for being “a total dick.” Here’s the apology video:

https://www.facebook.com/QOTSA/videos/10156044377137806/

Hello, last night at a Queens Of The Stone Age performance I kicked the camera of a photographer. And that camera hit the photographer in the face and that photographer was Chelsea Lauren. I’d just like to apologize 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 OK. I’ve made a lot of mistakes in my life and last night was definitely one of them and I apologize for that, to you. I want to be a good man, but I think last night I definitely failed at that. That means I failed my family and my friends as well. I don’t want them to ever be ashamed or embarrassed about being around me or knowing me. And so I apologize also to my band mates and my mom and my dad and my wife and my brother and my kids. Yeah, I’m gonna have to figure out some stuff I think, because rock ‘n’ roll’s a wonderful thing. It’s supposed to save and help people, not mess them up. So, Chelsea Lauren I hope you’re OK and I’m truly sorry. I understand you have to do whatever you have to do. I just want you to know that I’m sorry. Goodnight, godspeed.

Lauren posted a message on Instagram updating her condition and sharing photos of Homme at the time of the incident. It reads:

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.

https://www.instagram.com/p/BciIUG4Dh1-/

Here’s video of the kicking incident from Saturday as well as the original message posted by the band:

https://www.instagram.com/p/Bcg3ffCjXBw/ https://www.instagram.com/p/BciZc1IBCO-/