Josh Homme has issued a video apology after kicking photographer Chelsea Lauren in the face during Queens of the Stone Age's performance at the KROQ Acoustic Christmas show in Inglewood, California on December 9th. The singer-guitarist addressed Lauren directly in a short clip uploaded to the band's social media accounts. "I don't have any excuse or reason to justify what I did," he told the Shutterstock photographer, who was hospitalized due to her injuries. "I was a total dick, and I'm truly sorry, and I hope you're OK.
"I've made a lot of mistakes in my life, and last night was definitely one of them," he continued. "I apologize for that to you. I want to be a good man, but I think last night I definitely failed at that, and that means I failed my family and friends, as well. I don't want them to ever be ashamed or embarrassed about being around me or knowing me, and so I apologize also to my bandmates, my mom and my dad, my wife, my brother, [and] my kids."
"I'm gonna have to figure out some stuff, I think, 'cause rock & roll is a wonderful thing. It's supposed to save and help people, not mess them up. So, Chelsea Lauren: I hope you're OK, and I'm truly sorry. And I understand you have to do whatever you have to do. I just want you to know that I'm sorry. Goodnight, godspeed," Homme concluded.
Lauren described the incident in a recent Variety interview, calling Homme's actions "obviously very intentional." She also told the magazine she plans to file a police report.
"Josh was coming over and I was pretty excited," Lauren recalled. "I've never actually photographed Queens of the Stone Age before; I was really looking forward to it. I saw him coming over and I was shooting away. The next thing I know his foot connects with my camera and my camera connects with my face, really hard. He looked straight at me, swung his leg back pretty hard and full-blown kicked me in the face. He continued performing, I was startled, I kind of stopped looking at him, I just got down and was holding my face because it hurt so badly."
