A flying object appeared to hit Harry Styles in the face onstage during a concert July 8, the latest in a series of incidents where stage performers have been struck by things thrown at them from the crowd.
According to videos shared by attendees from the Vienna, Austria, concert, Styles was strolling up the stage catwalk and waving to fans when he was struck by something and recoiled. The "Watermelon Sugar" singer brought his hand to his eye and paused on the steps before continuing to walk offstage, still covering his face.
It's unclear what the object was or the origin of it. TODAY.com has reached out to representatives for Styles, but did not hear back at the time of publication.
Maddison Ford, who attended the Vienna concert and shared video footage of the incident on Twitter, tells TODAY.com in an email that the object appeared to be a rose, with the stem hitting his eye.
The singer was "clearly hurt," Ford said. According to her, the object was thrown towards the end of the concert, and Styles finished the last 25 minutes of his set after the interaction occurred.
"Rudest people ever," Ford captioned a tweet accompanying a video of the incident.
Ford said in an email that attendees were "upset with the situation."
"I feel like throwing items at our favorite artists is going way (too) far now," Ford said.
Styles was previously struck in the face onstage by Skittles in November and by a can of Red Bull in 2015.
In addition to Styles, Bebe Rexha, Kelsea Ballerini and Pink have all had objects thrown at them in recent weeks.
Rexha was hospitalized in June after she was hit in the face with a cellphone, leaving a lasting black-and-blue eye. Nicolas Malvagna, 27, was arrested and charged for the incident. His attorney said Malvagna never intended to harm Rexha, rather he wanted the singer to "take photos with his phone, and return it as a keepsake."
Ava Max was also injured during her concert last month after an attendee jumped up onto the stage and slapped her. “He slapped me so hard that he scratched the inside of my eye,” she said on Twitter after the incident.
