Steve Aoki could be in a financial conundrum after one of his fans comes forward 3 years later with a neck injury.
As hearing the phrase, “Play with fire, cha’ bound to get burnt” as children never could steer us away from sudden disaster, so too did it never ingrain itself well enough into superstar DJ Steve Aoki’s common sense capacitors either.
Stemming from an event that happened in downtown San Diego back in 2012 (it took 3 years, really?), Aoki is now embroiled in a legal battle because of his over-the-top stage antics. The victim, Brittany Hickman, is claiming that she and a few friends were attending one of Aoki’s performances when he tossed a raft into the crowd and shimmied up a set of rafters to jump on top of it — a common occurrence at one of his shows.
The unfortunate thing about it, Hickman found herself on the receiving end of the Aoki-bomb and was knocked unconscious and stuck under the raft. Only when she returned home to a doctor and a CAT scan did she figure out the severity of the situation. “If I would have thrown my arms above my head or reached for something,” she told ABC 10 News, “I could have paralyzed myself.”
Speaking through his attorney, Peter Doody, Aoki issued a statement of the suit saying: "I would never want anyone to get hurt at any of my shows and feel badly that someone has, but at this time I have been advised by my attorneys to not speak about this as it's going to trial. Thank you for your understanding."
While some idiotic commenters online would like to claim that she had it coming because “this is just what he does” and should expect it — and may be partially right in that assumption — she’s still a young woman with a busted body because of someone else’s actions … allegedly. The least the over-paid superstar can do is foot a few medical bills and get her every fourth-meal for the next 20 years or some other nice gesture we’d gladly take if she doesn’t …
The bottom line is that attending anything with crowds can be dangerous and all necessary moves should be made to ensure the safety of everyone involved. If an artist feels like jumping off of the rafters to fill time because the computer is doing a great job of playing the music for them — then so be it. But if an accident does happen (and they do) let the attendee be compensated appropriately and everyone move on.
Let’s hope for a swift and fair resolution in the meantime …
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