Don Henley and assault with a maraca: An Eagles’ worst moment
At the time of writing, Oasis have just wrapped up the first night on their highly anticipated reunion tour. Fans were waiting 16 years for the band to get back together, and now it’s finally happened. Why did Oasis split up in the first place? Well, long story short, both the Gallagher brothers are incredibly hot-headed. However, despite having a temper on him, even Liam Gallagher has never thrown one of his maracas at a fan’s head.
Unfortunately, the same can’t be said for Don Henley. The Eagles legend is famous for having a relatively short temper, and unfortunately, this once manifested in him hurling a maraca towards a fan’s head. Despite the fan pressing charges, it doesn’t look like there was any kind of payout or court case heard as a result of the assault.
One thing that Henley has remained pretty consistent in throughout his career is that he doesn’t appreciate flash photography. When he’s on stage, he would rather not have a lot of cameras clicking off in his face, and therefore politely asks fans to refrain from taking photos. One fan seemingly didn’t listen to the request and opted to try to get a quick snap of the country rock legend. Henley didn’t appreciate this.
Henley was touring his Inside Job LP and stopped off at Little Rock, Arkansas, when the rogue fan took a photo. Mary Ann Haley said that she tried to take a photo of Henley, and when she did, Henley lost his temper and threw his maraca at her, striking her directly in the forehead.
Haley filed a lawsuit against Henley, as she said that after he threw the maraca at her head, she then “gestured in her direction while announcing that he’d appreciate no more flash photography.” In her lawsuit, she said that the incident had resulted in “Highly unpleasant mental reactions, including fright, horror, disappointment, chagrin, worry, disgrace, embarrassment, indignity, ridicule, grief, shame, humiliation, anger and outrage.”
Henley has been used to plenty of controversy throughout his career. Following the success of the band’s album Hotel California, there was a lot of pressure on the band to release an equally successful follow-up. This led to a lot of indecisiveness with what sound they should go for with the next album, and how they could ever live up to the hype.
This led to a great deal of tension within the band, as a combination of stress, creative differences, and general pressure led to them all feeling the pinch. Henley was a bystander to the moment these clashes resulted in the band breaking up on stage, as Glenn Frey and Don Felder both spent an entire set threatening one another.
“So now we’re onstage, and Felder looks back at me and says, ‘Only three more songs till I kick your ass, pal’. And I’m saying, ‘Great. I can’t wait’,” recalled Frey, “We’re out there singing ‘Best of My Love’, but inside, both of us are thinking, ‘As soon as this is over, I’, gonna kill him’. That was when I knew I had to get out.”
The years at the heart of controversy might have led to Henley’s legal team being perfectly clued up on the law surrounding anything aggravated, as despite Haley filing a lawsuit after he threw a maraca at her, the case didn’t go anywhere. The county prosecutor laughed when the charges were brought forward to him. “That’s not the silliest thing I’ve heard this year,” he said, “But it’s definitely in the top 10.”
