At a regular gig, people have a habit of hurling their cups or beer cans across the crowd. You might even get the occasional cup of pee. But of course, things have to be a bit classier than that at Coachella.
That’s why, rather than showering Ariana Grande with the dregs of their lukewarm Heineken, one festival attendee decided to chuck a lemon at the singer.
Well, you know what they say; when life gives you lemons… throw them at a pop star.
Watch the bizarre moment unfold here:
According to Consequence of Sound, the singer was in the midst of a Right There/Break Your Heart Right Back mashup when she strutted across the stage and was met with the flying, citrusy missile.
Luckily the weapon didn’t cause any damage, and simply bounced off the singer’s chest before rolling away across the stage.
Still, the 25-year-old was a little bitter about the experience, as she addressed the crowd, saying:
One of ya’ll threw a lemon at me, shit.
It’s unclear exactly why the culprit decided to throw anything at the singer in the first place – let alone a lemon. Maybe they thought Ariana would appreciate a unique, refreshing gift?
I’m just curious to know how long they were carrying it around for. Did they purchase the lemon at the festival, or did they bring it from home, ready and waiting to set their sights on Ariana?
There has been some speculation that the person behind the juicy attack was a disgruntled Beyoncé fan, who launched the lemon as a symbolic reference to the singer’s album Lemonade.
Last week, reports suggested Ariana was paid $8 million for her Coachella performance, while Beyoncé was said to have only been paid $4 million. However, these rumours have since been debunked, as according to The Blast, both performers were paid $8 million.
Still, it’s possible the lemon’s owner hadn’t learned of their equal pay before Ariana’s set, and so decided to protest by launching the fruit.
While the bizarre nature of the event admittedly made it quite amusing, some of the singer’s supporters took to Twitter to express their disapproval.
Billie Eilish’s brother and collaborator, Finneas, tweeted:
If you throw a lemon at Ariana Grande, you’re a piece of shit
Another fan tweeted:
why are people throwing LEMONS of all things at Ariana? who just has a lemon with them at a music festival I’m confused
Hopefully Ariana won’t be sour about the situation for too long!
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Emily Brown first began delivering important news stories aged just 13, when she launched her career with a paper round. She graduated with a BA Hons in English Language in the Media from Lancaster University, and went on to become a freelance writer and blogger. Emily contributed to The Sunday Times Travel Magazine and Student Problems before becoming a journalist at UNILAD, where she works on breaking news as well as longer form features.