QUEENS OF THE STONE AGE frontman Josh Homme has released a statement after he was videotaped kicking a photographer in the head at a show in California over the weekend. Chelsea Lauren, a photographer for Shutterstock, told Variety the incident, which happened during the band's performance on night one of the 28th annual KROQ Acoustic Christmas, was unprovoked and that Homme was even smiling before he struck her. "It was obviously very intentional," she said. Earlier today, Homme released a statement, characterizing the incident as an accident. "Last night, while in a state of being lost in performance, I kicked over various lighting and equipment on our stage," he wrote. "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.' Lauren has not yet publicly responded to Homme's apology, but she wrote on Instagram earlier that her neck was "sore," her eyebrow "bruised" and she said that she was "a bit nauseous." "Assault in any form is not okay, no matter what the reasoning," she said. "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. "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." At the time of her Instagram post, Lauren said she had not yet been contacted by QUEENS OF THE STONE AGE's management regarding the incident.
pic.twitter.com/JCtdOAFEbq
— QOTSA (@qotsa) December 10, 2017
Thanks to @joshhomme @queensofthestoneage I now get to spend my night in the ER. Seriously, WHO DOES THAT?!? #joshhomme #queensofthestoneage #qotsa #qotsafamily #concertphotography #musicphotographer
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
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pic.twitter.com/JCtdOAFEbq
— QOTSA (@qotsa) December 10, 2017
Thanks to @joshhomme @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
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
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