Fan charged with assault after he threw a phone at Bebe Rexha during concert
Pop sensation Bebe Rexha experienced a shocking incident during her concert in New York on Sunday when a fan hurled a phone at her, hitting her in the head. The impact caused the star to collapse to her knees, visibly in pain. Security swiftly escorted Rexha from the venue while she was still clutching her face in agony.
One of the videos captured the moment security personnel apprehended a man from the crowd. Rexha’s fans are heard voicing curses to the man and labelling it as an act of assault. New York Police later confirmed that a 27-year-old concertgoer had been charged with assault in relation to the incident.
Taking to Instagram the following day, Rexha shared photos revealing her injuries. The images showed a bruise around her left eye and a cut on her eyebrow. Despite the ordeal, she captioned the pictures with a resilient "I'm good," and flashed a thumbs-up sign to the camera.
According to Pop Base, a gossip website, Rexha's mother stated that the singer received medical treatment and required three stitches for her wounds. During the concert, Rexha also interacted with fans. She invited a tearful fan from El Salvador onto the stage to sing I'm Gonna Show You Crazy with her and performed an impromptu rendition of Seasons upon a request from the audience. Little did she know someone from the audience was going to hurt her.
Attendees at the show expressed their disbelief at the unfortunate turn of events. One Twitter user wrote, "I'm still shocked two hours later. I saw something fly and hit her. I thought it was a CD or a paper until I saw her drop." Another fan wrote, "People really dressed up and were in a good mood that they were going to a concert, but this old man ruined everything." A third comment read, "Super unsettling ending to an otherwise great show. I hope she's okay."
Rexha is scheduled to perform next Tuesday, June 20, at The Fillmore in Philadelphia. Her tour will continue, with a stop in London on July 28, where she will perform at the Shepherd's Bush Empire.
However, this is only a small part of an alarming trend in which fans throw phones onto stages, hoping for a selfie or for the artist to interact with the device. This practice has gained popularity, with artists like Harry Styles occasionally picking up phones to call the owner's friends and leave a voicemail. But there have been enough consequences not to take the risk anymore.
Styles himself was hit in the eye by a handful of Skittles during a performance in Los Angeles. N-Dubz star Tulisa had her sunglasses knocked off by a fan's phone during one of the band's reunion gigs in Glasgow. The late David Bowie also fell victim to a stage projectile incident during a Norwegian music festival in 2004. A lollipop, thrown presumably as a gesture of affection, struck Bowie in the eye, causing significant discomfort.
He momentarily stepped back, assisted by his crew, before returning to the microphone and chastising the culprit. Given that he already had impaired vision in one eye due to a childhood fight, Bowie humorously remarked, "The other one has just become a little bit more decorative than it was before... Lucky you hit the bad one."