Stop Throwing Things at Performers!

It’s 2023 and I can’t believe this has to be said, but: stop acting feral and throwing things at performers. It’s not cute! Whatever positive reaction you are hoping to get from them will not be achieved because who in their right mind enjoys having projectiles thrown at them while performing!? Where were some of these people raised?! Cut it out!

That’s right, there’s a horrible trend happening at concerts across the globe, and that’s people throwing things at performers while they’re on stage (or headed to the stage), and it’s horrifying. There have been some serious injuries, like Bebe Rexha, who got pelted in the face with some moron’s phone at her concert last month. She had to get stitches! What the hell is going on?!

Just look at this overzealous fan throwing something at Taylor Swift over the weekend.

None of this is OK! The only silver lining there is that it was a friendship bracelet and not human ashes because guess what Pink had to deal with last month?! That’s right: someone threw a bag of their mom’s cremains on stage in London. Gross!

I’d like to ask the person who did this what their best-case scenario was here. What do you want Pink to do with your mom’s ashes, exactly? Also, you’re a jerk for interrupting the concert because thousands of people were there, and it wasn’t a show just for you. Finally, on a personal note, I’ve started friendships with many people in a variety of ways, but I can categorically say that if you interrupted me at my job by throwing a baggie of your dead mom’s ashes at me, we would never be friends. Ever.

Poor Harry Styles seems to get the worst of it, though. He’s had things thrown at him at multiple concerts, the most recent of which was over the weekend in Vienna, where someone threw something at Styles and it almost got him in the eye. The eye is a very delicate organ, people! Where were some of you raised?!?!

Styles cannot catch a break because last November, some jerk pelted him with Skittles at his show in LA:

Someone also threw a chicken nugget at Styles last summer:

Seriously, what is it with people throwing things at Harry Styles when he’s at work?! Make no mistake, all of these people are at work and are getting harassed while they’re simply trying to do their job. I mean, do people come to your work and throw things at you?!

At least one artist has come out and warned people not to “f***ing” throw anything at her, or else she’d kill you, and that of course is Adele. Personally, I believe what she says in this video:

This has become such a trend that there are multiple articles about how musical artists keep getting pelted with things while on stage. It’s happened to Lil Nas X (someone threw a sex toy on stage), Ava Max (who was slapped by someone who rushed her stage, what in holy hell?!), Drake (a phone), and Kelsea Ballerini (a bracelet in the eye). No, no, no. Not OK!

Look, I get that it’s exciting to see mega-stars perform on stage and there’s something thrilling about a person you’ve fixated on potentially noticing you back, but these artists are people. People don’t like having things thrown at them as a general rule. If this didn’t fly on the playground in kindergarten, why in the hell would you think it would be acceptable to do when you’re (presumably) grown enough to be going to a concert?!

I think we all could use this as a reminder that pop stars are not our friends. Despite what we see on their social media, none of us have an actual connection with them. They don’t owe anyone at a concert their attention. Throwing things at them is scary, weird, and just unacceptable behavior. So knock it off. Someone is going to get permanently injured if this awful trend doesn’t stop.

(featured image: Gareth Cattermole, Getty Images / The Mary Sue)