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QOTSA’s Josh Homme apologises for kicking photographer during show

By Andy Malt | Published on Monday 11 December 2017

Queens Of The Stone Age frontman Josh Homme has apologised (twice) after kicking a photographer in the face during a show at the weekend. Chelsea Lauren was taken to hospital to be treated for injuries she sustained as she photographed the band at the first night of KROQ’s annual Almost Acoustic Christmas shows on Saturday.

Lauren later posted a video of the incident on Instagram, which shows Homme stretch his leg out and kick her while he’s performing a guitar solo. She later told Variety that it was “obviously very intentional”.

“He looked straight at me, swung his leg back pretty hard and full-blown kicked me in the face”, she went on. “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 that she intended to press charges, saying: “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. That’s not right”.

In an initial statement, Homme said that he hadn’t realised that he’d kicked a person, saying: “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”.

According to reports, Homme’s behaviour throughout the show had been somewhat erratic, at one point pulling out a knife and cutting his forehead. He also berated the audience and was disparaging of headliners Muse.

In a longer, videoed statement this morning, Homme said that he didn’t have “any excuse or reason to justify” kicking Lauren, other that he “was a total dick”. He again apologised, but accepted that she may want to press charges.

“I’d just like to apologise to Chelsea Lauren”, he said. “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. I apologise for that to you”.

Adding that he’d “definitely failed” at being a good person, he also apologised to his bandmates, parents, wife, brother and children, saying: “I don’t want them to ever be ashamed or embarrassed about being around me or knowing me”.

Finally, he said: “I’m gonna have to figure out some stuff, I think. Because rock n roll’s a wonderful thing, [but] 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 and I understand that you have to do whatever you have to do, I just want you to know that I’m sorry”.

Queens Of The Stone Age are due to begin their new round of tour dates in Canada in January.