Metallica Guitarist and Girl ‘Remain Good Buddies’ After Beach Ball Incident

Metallica have responded to the media uproar over a very minor incident last week in Australia, when guitarist Kirk Hammett kicked a beach ball during a concert and accidentally knocked over a little girl in the process. The event received a lot of press attention, with some reports indicating that Hammett had kicked a kid, which obviously wasn't accurate at all. Turns out, it was much ado about nothing. As such, the band posted a statement about "the errant beach ball incident" to set the record straight.

"In the wacky world of rock 'n' roll, sometimes stuff happens which looks even weirder than it really is!" the band admitted. "And with context being vital in these situations, we just wanted to address something which happened on the tour the other night regarding a large beach ball, a band member's foot and a little girl."

The statement continued, "Some of you will have seen on YouTube (or read in some reports) that Kirk knocked a small child offstage by kicking a beach ball at her. That little lady is the daughter of the stage manager and dressing coordinator, who are fortunate to travel as a family on this tour. She was thoroughly enjoying watching the beach balls drop from the rafters, Kirk was thoroughly enjoying kicking the beach balls off the stage and back into the crowd as has been done every night on the tour, and neither of them saw the other.

"The poor wee one happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time. She wasn't hurt. She didn't go 'flying several feet into the audience.' And Kirk and she remain good buddies. It's very cool that everyone showed concern and support though, so we just wanted to say 'it's all good' and thanks for asking."