Rapper Cardi
B threw
down literally at a concert Saturday
after someone in the audience
splashed her with a beverage
during her performance.
Oh.
Oh,
oh.
Stunning dance
video from the crowd
showing a concertgoer flip a cop at Cardi
while she performs
Bodak Yellow at a club in Las Vegas.
The rapper
immediately, as you saw
right there, throwing her microphone
into the crowd,
visibly upset
as security guards swarmed the stage
and jumping into the crowd.
It's the latest in an alarming trend
where performing artists
become the target of objects
thrown at them while on stage.
Some singers,
including Kelsea Ballerini
and Harry Styles,
suffered eye injuries as a result.
John Drury
is a social psychology professor
at the University of Sussex,
and he is with us now
from Brighton, England.
Good morning, sir.
It is a very disturbing trend,
I have to say.
What's behind this
and what are some of the
possible explanations for fans just
misbehaving in this way?
Well, people have been
talking about changes
in audience behavior
since events reopened in 20, 21.
And it's not just like music events.
People have been saying the same thing
about sports
about theater, about live comedy,
and they've been describing fans
throwing items on stage, but also other
apparently new behaviors
such as rude ness, aggression,
people pushing,
trying to get in and so on.
When you speak to fans
themselves,
you get a much more mixed picture
of this.
I mean, it's quite clear from people
within the industry.
So people who work in the music industry
say this has been a trend for two years.
Fans themselves sometimes describe
not noticing
in the audience changes
in audience behavior
or they say that
it was slightly different
when they reopened in 20, 21
and now it's going back to normal.
So actually depends who you talk to.
Whether or not this is actually a trend
and how how can this type of behavior
be stopped?
I mean, what are the dynamics at play?
Well, in terms of explanations,
one of the explanations is that people
have different expectations
now, at least some people do.
They are a bit more individualized
They don't have a sense
of being part of a larger group
or a collectivity,
and they are just interested in their own
personal gratification.
And
I haven't seen any direct tests
of this explanation
or other explanations.
But what we have noticed
from our own research
is that these incidents are much less
likely to occur at those smaller events
where fans say
there was a small, intimate crowd
where everybody was there
for the same reason,
as opposed to the large stadium events
with large stars.
I mean, it's noticeable
that the events you talked about
and the events
that have been in the news involve
very famous stars
where there might be an element
of people
trying to
raise their own social media profile.
And it's important to point out, too,
it is only a small minority
of people doing this.
It's not large numbers of people
Yeah, but still, I mean,
it's quite dangerous.
I mean,
some of the things are outright bizarre,
I believe.
Performer Pink
had a bag of somebodies
mothers ashes thrown at her.
I mean, it's quite disturbing.
If you were a performer, what do you do?
I think I think I agree with you.
There is a safety element
as well as an element of
of affecting people's enjoyment
in terms of solutions.
I'd say two things.
I mean, the fact that you seem to get
you're more likely
to get these certain kinds of events
means that perhaps venues and artists
can learn from those events
where they're less
they're happening less often.
We know that some festivals
work very hard
to create a sense of community among
fans and audiences beforehand,
and maybe venues could try and do
a bit more
to create that sense of community
rather than simply position
people as individual consumers.
The other thing I'd suggest is,
I mean, one factor
that everybody seems to agree is relevant
is that the industry
lost a lot of skilled people
when live events closed down in 20, 20.
Those skill people didn't come back.
I'm talking about staff,
security, people
who have the diplomatic skills
to diffuse situations
and deal with people and spot trouble.
So I think the other solution
is more training for staff
in spotting issues and managing trouble.
And fans
need to be reminded of concert etiquette.
John Drury, thank you so much.