Olivia Rodrigo is the latest female star to be hit in the face with an object thrown at her by a member of the public, and we are tired. The singer was hit in the face by a bouquet of flowers during her final performance in New York's Madison Square Garden during her GUTS world tour.
It happened while Olivia greeted fans inside the venue, walking past the crowd on her way to the stage. When she passed one fan who held a bouquet of flowers, the fan proceeded to throw the flowers at the singer from behind, hitting her in the face. Rodrigo flinched, then continued walking through the crowd, greeting her fans. The moment was captured on video.
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Sadly, this disturbing incident with Olivia Rodrigo is just the latest in a string of recent cases where female celebrities have been hit by objects thrown by ‘fans’ and audiences.
Last year, Florence Pugh was at a Comic-Con event promoting Dune: Part Two alongside co-stars Timothée Chalamet, Austin Butler and Zendaya – and as she posed for a group photo in front of screaming fans, cameras captured her reaction as an object was thrown from the audience, hitting her squarely in the eye. Her co-stars immediately checked if she had been hurt, while Florence looked visibly shocked.
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Fans flooded to her social media to check she was okay.
R&B singer Ari Lennox was also victim to a concert-goer throwing a bottle on stage as she performed in California. Luckily, it just missed her.
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Taylor Swift, too, recently spoke about the fear of being hurt on stage. During a show at Estadio River Plate in Buenos Aires, she asked her fans not to throw ‘presents’ at the stage.
She said: “It really freaks me out when stuff gets thrown on the stage,” Swift said. "Because if it's on the stage then a dancer can trip on it.
“I love that you brought presents and that is so nice, but just can you please not throw them on the stage. I love you so much.”
Adele has made similar requests to fans, discussing ‘show etiquette’ during her Las Vegas residency in July 2023. “Dare you to throw something at me!” she said at the time.
We're so conditioned to see unwanted stares, catcalling and even assault as normal.
Back in 2023, singer Bebe Rexha was injured after she was struck in the face by a phone that a concert-goer launched onstage during her show at New York City's The Rooftop at Pier 17 – which resulted in her having to be taken to hospital for stitches.
Footage from the concert that circulated on Twitter showed the singer reacting in shock and pain when the phone was flung at her, before crouching on the floor with her head in her hands. She was later escorted off stage to be taken to hospital.
“Absolutely great show ruined by a fan throwing their phone at @BebeRexha… hopefully she is ok after that,” a fan captioned the video.
Another wrote: “This is Bebe Rexha being rushed out of the concert venue here in NYC after someone threw a f***ing phone and hit her face as she was leaving the stage. We were all having a hell of a good time and so was Bebe, we were all having a blast, I mean who would even do that??? We hope you’re ok @BebeRexha.”
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Bebe later shared a shot of her black eye and steri strips, and referenced her David Guetta collab by declaring “I'm good,” with a thumbs-up – but these incidents have started a conversation about the safety of artists on stage, as well as the attitudes of concert-goers towards performers. Now it seems that actors are also not safe from this kind of behaviour, either.
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The culture of throwing things at artists on stage isn't a new one, sadly – and often it's not intended to cause injury – but many singers, like Taylor, have spoken out about the potential dangers of the fan ‘tradition’. But as more and more incidents arise, it's clear that this is becoming more of an incessant problem than an occasional one – and fans aren't exactly throwing cuddly teddy bears.
In fact, the man who threw the phone at Bebe was removed from the concert and charged with assault – and shockingly, said in his statement that he “thought it would be funny”.
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It's a pretty sad state of affairs that someone would willingly throw a substantial object at a woman from a distance, and defend his actions with humour. And in a world where violence against women continues to rise, 'joking' about these incidents only furthers the notion that it is not being taken seriously.
Worryingly, there are numerous commenters on Twitter who have also described these assaults as “funny”. One X (formerly Twitter) user even said of Florence Pugh's incident that it was “deserved.” For what, exactly? Standing on stage and doing her work?
One fan commented on X following Bebe's assault: “It is almost like the global past-time of harassing and abusing high profile women for sport and thrills has created a situation where some people feel empowered to do whatever they want to any high profile women they can get near enough to.”
Amen. Can we stop making excuses for dangerous behaviour, however ‘minor’ it might seem?
