Actor Florence Pugh was struck in the face by a thrown object on Sunday while she posed alongside her co-stars during a Dune: Part Two promotional event in Brazil.
Pugh, 27, was attending a Comic-Con panel in São Paulo alongside Dune stars Zendaya, Austin Butler and Timothée Chalamet to promote the second instalment of the science-fiction movie franchise.
As the celebs and director Denis Villeneuve stood together for a photo, an object was hurled toward the stage and hit an unsuspecting Pugh near her eye. Before bending down to pick up the projectile, Pugh appeared to say either “ow” or “wow” in reaction to being hit.
It is not clear what the thrown object was.
Pugh has not commented publicly on the incident.
Many pop culture enthusiasts have pointed to the incident involving Pugh as proof that actors are not exempt from the trend of being hit with fan-thrown projectiles.
In the last year, bad audience behaviour has been a highly buzzed-about topic, with many of the music industry’s biggest names being pelted by a number of strange objects all around the world, from food to undergarments.
Earlier this year, singer Bebe Rexha was rushed offstage after she was struck in the face with a cellphone while performing in New York. The singer reportedly required stitches to close a wound on her face. The man who threw the phone was arrested on assault charges for “intentionally” throwing the phone at Rexha.
During Harry Styles’ successful Love on Tour run, he was whacked with a myriad of objects at nearly every stop. While on stage, Styles was bombarded with everything from chicken nuggets to Skittles in his eye.
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Even megastar Taylor Swift had to scold her fans for throwing at artists. In Buenos Aires, Swift appeared rattled when an object was tossed onto the stage.
“Just because communication means having gentle, healthy boundaries, it really freaks me out when stuff gets thrown on the stage,” Swift said from behind her piano. “Because, if it’s on the stage, then a dancer can trip on it.”
But really, throwing things at celebrities is not a new trend. In 2004, David Bowie was hit in the eye with a lollipop thrown by a fan while he performed at a Norwegian music festival. After stepping back from the microphone, Bowie returned to curse at the fan who threw what would later be known as “love on a stick.”
Earlier, in 1982, Prince of Darkness Ozzy Osbourne infamously bit the head off of a bat that a fan had thrown on stage. Osbourne later clarified that he thought the bat was fake and made from rubber.
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