Queens of the Stone Age’s Josh Homme Apologizes for Kicking Photographer in the Head

Queens of the Stone Age frontman Josh Homme has been caught on video kicking a female photographer in the head during a concert.

Photographer Chelsea Lauren posted a video to Instagram of the singer kicking her in the head during a Queens of the Stone Age gig in Los Angeles on Saturday, Dec. 9.

“Thanks to @joshhomme I now get to spend my night in the ER. Seriously, WHO DOES THAT?!?” she wrote alongside the video.

Thanks to Josh Homme @queensofthestoneage I now get to spend my night in the ER. Seriously, WHO DOES THAT?!? #joshhomme #queensofthestoneage #qotsa #qotsafamily #concertphotography #musicphotographer

A post shared by Chelsea Lauren (@chelsealaurenla) on Dec 9, 2017 at 11:38pm PST

Homme subsequently apologized to Lauren in a video posted to social media two days later.

“I don’t have any excuse or reason to justify what I did … I’m truly sorry and I hope you’re okay,” he said.

“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.”

pic.twitter.com/LUdxsTQE6P

— QOTSA (@qotsa) December 11, 2017

He concluded by saying he understood Lauren would “have to do whatever you have to do”, presumably in response to a Variety interview with the photographer in which she said she intended to file a police report.

On Sunday Lauren posted two images to Instagram of the moments before Homme kicked her that appear to show him smiling.

“I was in the pit in tears—and he just stared at me smiling,” Lauren wrote.

She continued: “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.”

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. #queensofthestoneage #QOTSA #JoshHomme

A post shared by Chelsea Lauren (@chelsealaurenla) on Dec 10, 2017 at 11:22am PST

She said she had been released from hospital early in the morning with a sore neck and bruised eyebrow.

Another image taken later in the gig shows Homme with blood running down his face after he reportedly cut himself with a knife.

“The irony is someone had thrown an ice cube on to the very slick catwalk before the QOTSA set”, she wrote. “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.”

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