While performing a track from his (excellent) self-titled debut solo album Saturday night, Harry Styles was groped by a front row attendee. Footage of the incident spread rapidly across social media over the weekend, with Styles fans expressing their disgust behind the #RespectHarry hashtag.
Footage shows Styles dropping to his knees near the edge of the stage during a performance of "Kiwi" before seemingly moving someone's hand away from his crotch and rejoining the band. Styles has not publicly commented on the incident, which took place during Saturday night's We Can Survive benefit show at the Hollywood Bowl in Los Angeles, California.
The breast cancer awareness benefit also featured performances from Sam Smith, Lorde, Mackemore, Sam Hunt, Khalid, Pink, Niall Horan, Alessia Cara, and more. Styles' next round of shows takes the singer overseas for a multi-city run with electro-pop trio Muna, starting Oct. 25 at L'Olympia in Paris, France. The two previously toured together here in the States.
Crotch-groping, unfortunately, has long been a problem for live performers. Way back in 2007, for example, Faith Hill made headlines by awesomely calling out a Soul2Soul Tour attendee for grabbing husband Tim McGraw's crotch during a performance in Lafayette, Louisiana. "Someone needs to teach you some class, my friend," Hill told the woman in front of thousands of fellow concertgoers. Indeed.
