The reggae singer apologizes to the female photographer but advised her not to get too close to him with a flashy camera on all the time.
- Dec 25, 2011
AceShowbiz - Matisyahu admitted that he "snapped" on a female photographer during his recent concert but would not call his act as "kicking". The photographer, Rebecca Smyne, was so pissed about the reggae singer that she tweeted, "I was just attacked by mAtisyahu calling cops pressing charges. Wtf! He kicked me in face and broke my camera!!!!!"
There was a short argument between the artist and the photographer about whether it was a kick at all. He wrote, "I wouldn't call it a kick, more like stepping into the crowd. And being that you've shot so many shows you should know how distracting a huge flash in your face is. Seemed like you were there everywhere I turned with that flash. Next time be more sensitive to the performer."
Meanwhile, she wrote, "AND on my FACE! It hurt. he looked right at me before he did it. he stepped on my face, on purpose. call it what you will-slow kick? ...Afterward there was a visible mark on my face, on my left brow bone, above my eye."
Smyne said she called the cops after the incident, insisting she has the right to use flash when working. "At most shows I'm surrounded by photogs using flash," she wrote, adding "I wasn't even in the front row and as you can see in the photos I wasn't close to you at all most of the time."
Matisyahu later apologized more formally, saying "I regret what transpired when I tried to remove the camera from the photographer's hands last night. As an artist on stage, it is very distracting and disorienting to have a camera flashing in your face for an extended period of time. I reacted impulsively out of frustration and for that I apologize."
