We’re still doing this? Concertgoer throws object and hits Harry Styles at Vienna show
It seems as if some Harry Styles fans need to learn to treat performers with kindness and respect.
This weekend, the Grammy Award winner became the latest artist subjected to unruly fan behavior that has recently affected fellow singers Bebe Rexha, Kelsea Ballerini and Ava Max. The “As It Was” singer was seemingly hit in the eye by an unidentified object from the crowd while performing at Vienna’s Ernst-Happel-Stadion on Saturday, as seen in a viral Instagram video.
The clip, posted by user @harryloustan1, shows the singer get hit by an item and wince in pain. He also covers his eye and forehead with his hand while walking to the back of the stage.
On Wednesday, Drake became the latest artist to get hit by an object hurled by a fan at a concert. Should we blame the pandemic? Social media? Lazy bouncers?
“Stop throwing [s—] at him and especially his face!!!!,” @harryloustan1 captioned the video.
“Horrible behaviour, people need to be more respectful and even if it wasn’t the intention obviously he got hurt and that’s unacceptable,” Instagram user @straw_ciggs replied.
A representative for Styles did not immediately respond to The Times’ request for comment Monday.
Saturday’s Vienna concert was not the first time Styles has been pelted by objects thrown by fans. While his Love On tour was in Los Angeles in November 2022, a handful of Skittles hit his face and eye after he performed “As It Was.”
Country singer Kelsea Ballerini was struck in the face by an object thrown by a fan while she was performing in Idaho. The incident is the latest in an unsettling trend of inappropriate fan behavior at concerts.
“Didn’t think I needed to say this: Please don’t throw Skittles,” the official Twitter account for the rainbow candy responded.
A month before the Skittles incident, Styles took a hit to the groin from a rogue water bottle during a concert in Chicago. In August 2022, Styles paused his Madison Square Garden show to acknowledge that a chicken nugget made it on stage.
“Very interesting approach. Who threw the chicken nugget? There’s another chicken nugget,” he said, before fans egged him on to eat the nugget. “I don’t eat chicken. Sorry.”
Other artists who have had items thrown at them in recent weeks include Pink — whose fans offered up their mother’s ashes and a wheel of cheese — and rapper Drake, who was hit by a concertgoer’s phone.
Singer Bebe Rexha showed off stitches she received after a New York concertgoer threw a phone at her face during a show. A New Jersey man was arrested.
“The line between the stage and audience, and the sense of decorum around it, has really faded,” Paul Wertheimer, a concert security expert and founder of the consulting firm Crowd Management Strategies, told The Times earlier this month.
Amid reports of increased concert chaos, singer Adele took the time during her Las Vegas residency to stand her ground.
“Have you noticed how people are, like, forgetting f— show etiquette and throwing s— onstage? Have you seen that?” Adele said wielding a T-shirt cannon. “I f— dare you ... stop throwing things at the artists.”
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