Singer Tim McGraw arrives at the 46th Country Music Association Awards in Nashville, Tennessee, November 1, 2012. (Reuters)
Just days after a video of Tim McGraw appearing to slap a female fan in the face at a concert went viral, the superstar is speaking out about the incident.
TMZ initially posted a video that showed a female fan very aggressively grabbing at McGraw during a show in Atlanta when he went down to slap hands with fans at the edge of a catwalk during his encore, "Truck Yeah." From that angle it looked as if the singer might have slapped the fan in response.
A representative for McGraw issued a statement clarifying the incident, saying the singer had “instinctively swatted” in response to having his jeans ripped by someone he couldn’t see. A second video from another angle showed clearly that the fan had, in fact, torn McGraw’s pants. Security removed the woman from the concert moments after the incident.
In a new, longer video that’s been posted online, the woman appears to touch McGraw inappropriately.
In a new interview, McGraw says the whole thing was regrettable.
“Sometimes things can lose context and perspective,” he tells ET Canada. “I reacted in an instinctive, defensive way from my perspective of what was going on.”
He adds, “I think it was an unfortunate situation I think all the way around. But it happened, it happened in a split second, it was pure instinctive reaction, I think you just got to move on. It is one of those things that happen, nobody feels good about it, but there’s nothing that could be done about it. You are in that position, you are out there, you are vulnerable, things happen and sometimes you react. There’s nothing to be said about it.”
Police in Atlanta tell TMZ the woman has not come forward to complain, and even if she did, the video makes her appear to be the aggressor, which would make McGraw’s response “a common reaction” that was justified by her actions.
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