One minute you’re performing in front of a sold-out stadium. Boom. Your vision goes dark and you can barely see out of one eye. This was a first-hand experience for singer-songwriter Bebe Rexha when she was pelted with a cell phone at her show on June 16.
After being hit, she fell to the floor and was escorted out by her team, sustaining a black eye and requiring multiple stitches. According to Rolling Stone, the original investigation by the NYPD concluded that the fan, Nicolas Malvagna, “intentionally threw a cell phone” at Rexha. The New York Defense Attorney’s Office said that Malvagna pleaded guilty and justified his actions saying, “I was trying to see if I could hit her with the phone at the end of the show because it would be funny.”
Previously, fans have thrown things like flowers or other objects as a compliment to the performance. More recently, performers have begun taking photos with the fan’s phones in the front row. However, fans who are not in the front row believe that if they throw the phone onstage, the performer will take a photo or video and throw it back. This, however, isn’t always the case.
While most performers did not respond physically to these attacks, artists like Cardi B have demonstrated their frustration on stage. On July 29, Cardi B had asked her fans, earlier in the show, to throw water on her as it was hot at the performance venue. When a fan threw water on her she became agitated and threw the microphone she was performing with back at the fan’s head. While no charges ensued, these types of interactions raised questions about safety measures in place for the security of both fans and performers. Cardi B later responded on a TikTok live to convey her frustration. She said in an interview with iHeart radio that the public could not speak on her actions until they’d been hit “mad hard” in the face with water and ice.
This is not the first incident of fans throwing items on stage. From Ava Max to Drake, the number of violent assaults has taken a major spike. The emotional and adrenaline rush of seeing your favorite singer right in front of your eyes can cause fans to act out in violent ways.
But is this an excuse for bad behavior?
As a fellow performer, junior and a capella member Naysa Mustafa said, “Honestly, I think it depends on how comfortable the singer is with people throwing stuff on stage, especially, following the Cardi B incident. In my opinion, when somebody throws something at you, you shouldn’t throw it back, otherwise, people will want to do it to other people. People on social media will start to hate you, people might start to do what you did and it’s just not good for your image and anyone’s health in general because you serve as a role model and you shouldn’t be doing that. Be the better person and instead call security on them or ignore it.”
