Rapper 50 Cent is facing battery charges following an incident in which he threw two microphones into a concert crowd.
The moment occurred at a Los Angeles stop on his The Final Lap Tour. After the two microphones weren't working properly, 50 Cent hurled them into the crowd presumably in frustration.
One of them hit a woman in the forehead, injuring her and leaving her with a large gash that required a trip to the hospital.
According to TMZ, the show had been suffering audio problems and 50 Cent was handed two consecutive microphones that didn't work.
The injured woman, Bryhana Monegain, who is a midday host at Los Angeles' Power 106 R&B and hip hop radio station, was in a restricted area at the time of the incident. Law enforcement told TMZ they believe 50 Cent was throwing the mics at production personnel and ended up hitting Monegain instead.
Monegain says, however, that 50 Cent had made direct eye contact with her before the incident and hence was aware she was in the area before throwing the mics.
50 Cent's attorney Scott Leemon denied that he intentionally injured Monegain, however.
He told TMZ:
"Let's be very clear, as I told LAPD this afternoon, my client Curtis (AKA 50 Cent) would never intentionally strike anyone with a microphone. Anyone saying something different doesn’t have all the facts and is misinformed."
He has nevertheless been hit with a criminal battery charge after Monegain filed a police report and pressed charges over her injuries, images of which she posted on her Instagram profile.
Of course, the incident has drawn comparisons to one earlier this summer in which Cardi B threw her mic at a fan who hurled a drink in her face during a performance. Nobody was seriously injured in that incident, however.
On social media, 50 Cent's incident definitely raised eyebrows—and lots of jokes about him getting sued and wanting to be Cardi B, of course.
Hopefully throwing mics into crowds can stop being a trend after this incident.
