The rock guitarist and vocalist was playing Saturday in Los Angeles at an annual holiday festival of radio station KROQ when video shows him slamming his foot into the face of a photographer in the pit next to the stage.

 

Thanks to @joshhomme @queensofthestoneage I now get to spend my night in the ER. Seriously, WHO DOES THAT?!? #joshhomme #queensofthestoneage #qotsa #qotsafamily #concertphotography #musicphotographer

A post shared by Chelsea Lauren (@chelsealaurenla) on Dec 9, 2017 at 11:38pm PST

Chelsea Lauren, who shoots for Shutterstock, an agency that provides stock photos, said she spent the night in the emergency room and Sunday was still suffering a sore neck, a bruise in the eyebrow and nausea.

"Assault in any form is not okay, no matter what the reasoning," she wrote on Instagram. 

She speculated that Homme may have been impaired by drugs or alcohol. She posted another picture in which Homme smiled as blood trickled down his face after he stabbed himself in the forehead on stage.

"I was where I was allowed to be, I was not breaking any rules. I was simply trying to do my job," Lauren wrote.

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Thank you everyone that has reached out with supportive messages. A small update, as I'm being flooded with questions: My neck is a sore, my eyebrow bruised and I'm a bit nauseous. The doctor released me early in the morning. Here are three images. Two of them as Josh looked at me, smiled and then kicked me. The other one is later after he cut his own face with a knife. I was in the pit in tears - and he just stared at me smiling. Assault in any form is not okay, no matter what the reasoning. Alcohol and drugs are no excuse. I was where I was allowed to be, I was not breaking any rules. I was simply trying to do my job. I hold nobody accountable for this but Josh himself. KROQ has nothing to do with this and I will always support them. The irony is someone had thrown an ice cube on to the very slick catwalk before the QOTSA set. I was afraid that one of the band members might slip and hurt themselves so, when the lights went dark, I used my arm to wipe down the runway so nobody would hurt themselves. Thank you to @variety for their immediate concern and care with this matter. As of now, nobody from QOTSA has reached out to me. #queensofthestoneage #QOTSA #JoshHomme

A post shared by Chelsea Lauren (@chelsealaurenla) on Dec 10, 2017 at 11:22am PST

Homme apologized and described the incident as an accident. He said he was a "in a state of being lost in performance" and also kicked equipment.

"I would never intentionally cause harm to anyone working at or attending one of our shows and I hope Chelsea will accept my sincere apology," he wrote on Twitter.

pic.twitter.com/JCtdOAFEbq

— QOTSA (@qotsa) December 10, 2017

His explanation triggered a stream of negative reactions on social media, with some people urging that he face charges.

Homme, 44, known for his rugged, high-powered rock, is a founding member both of Queens of the Stone Age and Eagles of Death Metal, although he was not present in Paris when the latter band's concert was attacked as part of a 2015 assault by supporters of the Islamic State group.

Based in the desert of southeastern California, Homme is also a prolific producer and collaborator, notably working with punk legend Iggy Pop on his latest album.

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