Austin musicians worried about objects being thrown at them on stage

Austin musicians say they’re worried about a recent rend at concerts, people throwing phones and other objects on stage, in many cases injuring performers.

AUSTIN, Texas - Austin musicians say they’re worried about a recent rend at concerts, people throwing phones and other objects on stage, in many cases injuring performers. Meanwhile, local attorneys say doing this, is a crime in Texas.

On Saturday, July 9, Harry Styles became the latest performer to be pelted by an object on stage. Artists like Drake and Bebe Rexha recently had phones thrown at them—with Rexha suffering a serious eye injury. Kelsea Ballerini was hit in the eye by a bracelet, Ava Max was slapped on stage, and, perhaps most bizarre, Pink was on the receiving end of a bag of ashes.

"It's not it's not a new thing. But we are seeing sort of a resurgence of this type of thing right now," said Aaron Lack, president of the Austin Federation of Musicians. "We worry about those performers there in front of a lot of people. They take a lot of risk."

Thankfully, Lack hasn’t seen a spike in this behavior here in Austin, but says it’s the responsibility of venues to ensure safety.

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"Safety is a mandatory subject of bargaining, so it is part of a lot of contracts that we negotiate and others negotiate," said Lack.

Austin-based defense attorney Sam Bassett says throwing things at performers isn’t just rude, it’s assault.

"At the very least, it's a misdemeanor, could be alleged to be a misdemeanor offense, because you're intentionally or at least recklessly causing injury to someone. But if you caused an injury that was considered serious bodily injury under the Texas penal code, that could be an aggravated assault, which is a felony," said Bassett.

That could carry up to 20 years in prison, misdemeanor assault up to a year.

"I think that the likelihood of being caught has skyrocketed because of the publicity surrounding these incidents," said Bassett.

Bassett also urges musicians to do their homework.

"To make sure the venue that they're playing has sufficient security. And I would also ask questions about video surveillance of the audience. Is that available?" said Bassett.

Lack says the industry standard for these types of incidents is to end the concert if a performer is hit, so in addition to a criminal charge, you could also have a few thousand people really mad at you.

"Just have respect for the artists that you've come to see that you paid the ticket price to see because they love you," said Lack. "They don't want that show to end. So don't make it end."