When Concertgoers Attack: All the Stars Who've Been Hit With Objects at Their Shows

Note to all the concertgoers throwing stuff up on stage: Can you just not? With everyone from Cardi B to Harry Styles getting attacked by flying objects, their fellow musicians are speaking out.

By Sarah Grossbart Aug 07, 2023 12:00 AMTags
Watch: Pink Stunned After Fan Throws Mom's Ashes At Her During Performance

A strange thing happened on the way to score Beyoncé and Taylor Swift tickets this summer—the concertgoers, they seem to have gone wild. 

And we don't just mean the Swifties who shook it off so hard at her July 22 stop in Seattle that they caused seismic activity equivalent to a 2.3 magnitude earthquake. 

Guys, you need to calm down. 

But while being too loud at a show is hardly a crime (and taking a front-row selfie is a definitely a concert code of ethics gray area, sorry Miranda Lambert!), like, can we just not start throwing things at performers? 

Because while passing a wheel of cheese to Pink at a London festival was all in gouda fun, chucking a phone, a drink, a piece of fruit or even your mom's ashes is straight-up assault. Basically, as country legend Tim McGraw put it, he does not like it, he does not love it.  

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Celebrities Attending Taylor Swift's The Eras Tour

"I think it's terrible," McGraw told CNN last month. "I mean, you could really injure somebody and you could miss and hit somebody in the audience and injure somebody. What happens if somebody gets hurt? Then it ruins the show for everybody. If somebody can't continue performing."

While the singer noted he's used to "soft goods" being thrown at him (read: lingerie), "don't throw anything that's got any heft to it that's gonna hurt somebody. I just think that it's just not appropriate to do. Everybody's there to have fun and there's just no need in any of that."

Check out all the stars who have been hit by objects mid-performance and had to stretch the limits of the phrase, "The show must go on."

Nick Jonas

The Jonas Brothers member had to send out an S.O.S and ask fans to stop throwing things on stage after two bracelets almost hit him at a California stop on the group's tour. 

Cardi B

In case it wasn't clear, Cardi B does not like it like that. When a front row patron splashed their drink on the performer mid-set at Drai's Beachclub in Las Vegas July 29, she responded by throwing her microphone

The Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department said in a statement that an unidentified woman reported a battery case the day after the concert, but noted no arrest or citations have been issued. On Aug. 3, Cardi's lawyers told TMZ that police informed them no chargers would be filed against the singer.

Bebe Rexha

Baby, Bebe Rexha is gonna have the best f--kin' night of her life no matter what happens. Struck in the face when a man at her June show in NYC threw a phone, she later posted a photo of her injured eye, writing, "Im good."

Todd A Spodek, a lawyer for Nicolas Malvagna, who was arrested and charged with assault, told TMZ, "As a fan, Mr. Malvagna's sole intention was to have Ms. Rexha take photos with his phone, and return it as a keepsake. It was never his intention to injure Ms. Rehxa."

Kelsea Ballerini

Kelsea Ballerini didn't find it all that charming when someone tossed jewelry up on stage during a June performance in Idaho. "Someone threw a bracelet, it hit me in the eyes," she wrote on Instagram Stories days later, "and it more so just scared me than hurt me."

Ava Max

Listen, she's not that sweet. Ava Max had words for the man who assaulted her during an L.A. performance this past June. "He slapped me so hard that he scratched the inside of my eye," the "Sweet but Psycho" singer wrote on Twitter. "He's never coming to a show again."

Pink

Pink thought the fan who randomly passed her a wheel of Brie while she was singing at at the British Summer Time Festival in London this past June was kinda grate. "What the f--k," the musician said, as she reached for the dairy. "I wanna kiss you on the mouth."

But just give us a reason for why another fan tossed a bag of ashes the very next day. "This is your mom?" the "What About Us" singer asked. "I don't know how to feel about this."

Harry Styles

A sign of the times? Harry Styles had to get away from numerous flying objects during his recently wrapped Love on Tour, including, inexplicably, a handful of Skittles at a 2022 show in Los Angeles. A rep for the taste the rainbow brand later tweeted, "Didn't think I needed to say this: Please don't throw Skittles."

Billie Eilish

What a boob. As Billie Eilish sang "Lost Cause" at a February 2022 show, one fan tossed a set of false boobs at her. But proving that she's, uh, breast under pressure, the seven-time Grammy winner flung them back into the crowd and kept going. 

Kid Cudi

Uh, guys, he warned you. Moments after Kid Cudi told the crowd at his 2022 Rolling Loud set, "Yo, I'm going to walk off this stage, if y'all throw one more f--king thing up here, I will leave," he was pegged with yet another object. So he left. 

Ariana Grande

Arianators were left feeling sour after Ariana Grande was beaned with a lemon while headlining Coachella in 2019. And though the singer was definitely not so into it, into it, into it, she brushed off the fruit, telling the crowd, "One of ya'll threw a lemon at me, s--t."