LOS ANGELES — Queens of the Stone Age guitarist Josh Homme has apologized for kicking a female photographer during a concert, leaving her bruised and in tears.
Celebrity photographer Chelsea Lauren posted a video to her social media of Homme kicking her in the head mid-song at a performance in Los Angeles on Saturday night.
“Thanks to @joshhomme I now get to spend my night in the (emergency room). Seriously, WHO DOES THAT?!?” Lauren said in her post.
It’s unclear from the video whether or not the kick was deliberately aimed at Lauren, but in his video apology Homme admitted he had been “a total dick.”
“I don’t have any excuse or reason to justify what I did … I’m truly sorry and I hope you’re okay,” he said in a video posted to the Queens of the Stone Age Twitter account.
“I’ve made a lot of mistakes in my life and last night was definitely one of them, and I apologize for that to you. I want to be a good man but I think last night I definitely failed at that.”
Homme also apologized to his bandmates and his family in the video, including his mother, father and his children.
“I’m going to have to figure some stuff out I think,” he said.
In an earlier post to the official Queens of the Stone Age Twitter account Sunday, Homme said he had kicked Lauren’s camera while “being lost in the performance.”
“I kicked over various lighting and equipment on our stage. 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,” he said in the statement.
Lauren had maintained the kick wasn’t an accident, adding “assault in any form is not okay.”
“I was where I was allowed to be, I was not breaking any rules. I was simply trying to do my job,” she said in a lengthy Instagram post.
She said she had been released from hospital with a bruised eyebrow and a sore neck.
“I hold nobody accountable for this but Josh himself,” she said.
In an interview with Variety, Lauren said she would be filing a police report.
Homme has been accused of assault in the past, including by autograph collector Jason Leckrone who claims the musician grabbed him around the shoulders and neck after a concert in April 2016.
