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Adam Levine is defending himself after his reaction to a fan grabbing him onstage went completely viral.
Over the weekend, Maroon 5 performed at the iconic Hollywood Bowl in Los Angeles. One video from their performance ended up being viewed millions of times, but unfortunately for the band, it wasn’t exactly a good thing.
In a TikTok video by user Luis Peñaloza, which has now been watched over 9 million times, a woman can be seen making her way onstage and grabbing Levine’s arm, quickly hugging him before she’s escorted away by security. After the conncertgoer touched him, the singer sported a surprised look on his face before disgustedly shaking off the encounter, mouthing an expletive as he walked away.
In the comments and all over social media, fans offered their take on the situation, and like always, the responses were pretty split down the middle. While some insisted that celebrities are allowed to have boundaries, others said that the star needs to “humble” himself, pointing out other ways he could have kept his personal space without looking so offended by the fan who is clearly a big supporter.
“I get it, but he doesn’t have to act disgusted by her,” commented TikTok user @gavzona. “Like those are his fans that keep him relevant. Still a huge fan tho.”
After recieving so much backlash for his reaction, Levine took to his Instagram Stories on Tuesday to address the incident and explained why he made the face that he did. He also emphasized just how much he loves and appreciates everyone who supposrts him.
“I have always been someone that loves, respects, worships our fans. Without our fans, we don’t have a job. I say that all the time to our fans,” Levine said on his Story. “To think that anyone would believe that I thought our fans were beneath us or less than us makes my stomach turn. That’s just not who I am.”
The “Sunday Morning” singer went on to explain that his irritated reaction was simply due to him being caught off guard.
“So I just need you guys to know, I was really startled and sometimes when you‘re startled, you have to shake it off and move on because I’m doing my job up there,” Levine continued. “It’s what I pride myself on so I need to let you guys know what my heart is and my heart is that connection that exists between the band performing on stage and the fans. I hope that we can all understand that.”
And there you have it.