“I beg you to consider the possibility that everyone at your Paramore show needs it just as much as you do.” Hayley Williams issued an apology statement for removing two fans from a recent Paramore event, saying, “I am sorry for any shame or embarrassment I may have caused you.” Paramore performed two sold-out gigs at New York’s Madison Square Gardens earlier this week. Following the first night (May 30), video of Hayley Williams kicking out two fans went viral.
The incident occurred as the band was performing ‘Figure 8’, with fans reportedly forcing their way to the front of the venue. “What’s going on?” Williams inquired as the audience pointed at two fans. “Yes, I will humiliate both of you.” “You both need to find another place to take care of that shit because that’s not going to happen here tonight, this is our house,” she said as she escorted them out of the concert.
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Williams, on the other hand, has taken to the band’s discord to post a detailed statement regarding how she reacted to the altercation. She began by expressing she’s “really not proud” of how events played out, before discussing how essential it was for her to feel “belonging” when she was younger, which is why she joined Paramore. “It makes a lot of sense now why I gravitated toward music that was all about community.” Joining a band was the nicest thing that had ever happened to me. “I suppose the same can be said for the present me,” she wrote. She went on to relate how the audience at MSG alerted her to two persons who were becoming a nuisance.
“Without the opportunity for a proper back-and-forth (and with a looming, strict show-curfew in the back of my mind), I bared my teeth like a mother wolf,” Williams said. “I embarrassed the hell out of these two people because I had no idea what was going on.” Then, as a group, we expelled these people from the show in record time – all 25,000 of us or so.” Williams went on to add that she didn’t absorb the events for several days and that, after reviewing the tape, it “didn’t look like the fight I thought I was stopping.”
“I haven’t been able to shake the feeling that I abused my responsibility and platform in that moment, and that I hurt those two in ways that will outlast the temporary discomfort of their poor concert etiquette.” “I do believe it’s a worthy cause to establish firm boundaries for how we want the environment at our shows to feel [and] maybe those two weren’t going to get it any other way.” “However, we should all imagine being mocked and kicked out of a show in front of tens of thousands of people,” she remarked.
“I didn’t see the smug smiles that some commenters criticized them for when I saw their faces in the video.” I watched their humiliation and mourned for them. I swear I haven’t stopped thinking about it.” Williams went on to apologize for “whatever shame or embarrassment I may have caused you,” but noted that ignorance or entitlement have no place at a Paramore event. “I’m sorry I handled the whole situation like the arbiter of the same type of cancel culture that doesn’t often teach or lead in any productive way,” she continued.
“Does anyone really learn from the public shaming I gave the two people I had kicked off the show that night?” I’m not sure, but I don’t think so. “And it gives me a lot to think about in terms of our culture as a whole,” Williams concluded.
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“If you’re coming to one of the shows on this tour, I’m practically on my knees typing, begging you to be open to the idea that everyone at your show needs it just as much as you do.” “I never want to have to stop a show because of physical aggression again.” Rest assured, if necessary, I will have someone removed. I’ll simply try my hardest not to make it look like some biblical-era public execution the next time.” previously this week, Paramore brought out Florida congressman Maxwell Frost to play ‘Misery Business,’ while Lil Uzi Vert joined them previously on the tour for the ’00s song.
Williams told the crowd at a festival last weekend, “I’m very fucking comfortable talking politics, and if you vote for [Republican presidential candidate] Ron DeSantis, you’re fucking dead to me.” “I hate that the only thing I really know to say to people I deem racist or bigoted in any way is ‘you’re dead to me,’ when I know that message isn’t the kind that’s going to change a hateful heart,” Williams added in her Discord statement.