Hayley Williams stops song to break up fight at Paramore gig
At a recent Paramore gig, Hayley Williams paused a performance of ‘Figure 8’ to break up a fight in the audience. The incident occurred during one of the band’s two sold-out shows at the coveted Madison Square Garden in New York.
A video posted to TikTok showed the incident clearly, with a pair of crowd members seemingly pushing and shoving aggressively in an area where everyone else is relatively still. They appear to be attempting to move closer to the front of the stage, much to the annoyance of the people around them, many of whom had queued for hours to secure their spots.
As the audience pointed their fingers at the culprits, Williams interrupted the song to ask what was going on. The video captured the musician addressing the couple, stating, “Yes, I will embarrass both of you. Both of you need to find somewhere else to take care of that shit because that’s not happening here tonight, this is our house.”
She continued, “How are you gonna disrupt one of our favourite songs to play at our show? By the way, what you were doing in that pre-chorus when you were screaming it like you’re at a hardcore show?”
Judging by the video, it appears that the couple moved out of the area they were disrupting. Paramore are famously intolerant of any bad behaviour at their shows. Last year, they released a firm statement after discovering that a man was assaulting women in the crowd during a gig.
They wrote, “A man physically and verbally assaulted multiple women, including an engaged couple at our show. Our security team and venue staff were made aware and were able to restrain and remove him. […] PARAMORE DOES NOT CONDONE violence, homophobia, or bigotry of any kind. It is supremely unwelcome in our community and has no place at our shows.”
Watch the clip below.
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