“A lot of these kids — it’s their first concert, so they don’t even know what concert etiquette is,” the musician told Variety
Steve Lacy has been reflecting on his decision to destroy the disposable camera one of his fans threw at him during a concert in New Orleans last October. At the time, he said he didn’t believe he owed anyone an apology — and after nearly a full year, he still stands by that. Especially as conversations about musicians being pelted with items during their live performances continue to circle back on a nearly-weekly basis, Lacy is backing his choice while also understanding that the whole incident was born from a bigger problem: concertgoers and their lack of concert etiquette.
“I had to accept that this is how these kids are,” Lacy told Variety in a recent interview, speaking on the incident for the first time since the initial statement he released about it. “I was pissed at first — they want so much. Can you do this? Can you do that? I’m gonna throw this up here for you. I love you. But I don’t see them being wrong for it anymore. As much as it fucking annoys me sometimes, they’re just young. A lot of these kids — it’s their first concert, so they don’t even know what concert etiquette is.”
The fan who threw the camera on stage might not have meant to hit Lacy with it directly. In many of the recent instances of artists being assaulted by flying objects mid-show — like Kelsea Ballerini being hit with a bracelet or Harry Styles being pelted in the eye with Skittles — haven’t seemed malicious on the surface. But then we encounter people like the concertgoer who threw a cell phone at Bebe Rexha in New York because they thought “it would be funny,” or the person who tossed a bag of their mother’s ashes on stage during one of Pink’s performances (It’s still unclear what they expected her to do with them).
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Following the camera-smashing incident, Lacy wrote to Instagram: “Shoutout to the people not throwing disposable cameras at me and just coming to catch a vibe and connect. I had a really good time in NOLA last night. I hate that the beauty of the connection I have with so many people in the crowd gets lost when something negative happens … I don’t believe I owe anyone an apology — maybe I could’ve reacted better? Sure.”
Speaking to Variety, he elaborated on this point in particular. “People were pissed at me for it, but now they’re like, ‘He was fuckin’ right — y’all shoulda listened to Steve!’ I didn’t apologize for that shit because I’m not wrong,” he said. “These moments just go viral. As soon as anything has virality to it, it’s like that’s everything you’ve done. That’s what I hated most about that moment.”
