Summary: Gwen Stefani allegedly caused a concert stampede.
Did ’90s pop star Gwen Stefani break her fan’s leg? One new lawsuit claims that the singer caused a “crowd rush” at a Charlotte, North Carolina concert, and a woman suffered injuries because of it.
Lisa Keri Stricklin was at the July 2016 show when she said Stefani told her fans in the cheap seats to hurry towards the stage.
“‘Just fill in anywhere you like! Who cares about your lawn chairs? You can get new ones,” Stefani allegedly told the crowd.
The lawsuit described how Stefani’s call to action “created a stampede rush of patrons from the lawn seating area through the reserved seating area… with people knocking over and breaching the security barricades… jumping over seats in the reserved seating area, and pouring in through the aisles…”
Stricklin said that during the chaos, someone broke her leg. She and her friends had been sitting in their paid reserved seats when lawn patrons jumped over the barricades and ropes before storming the seated area.
In Stricklin’s lawsuit, she said that Stefani knew immediately that she had caused a problem and acknowledged it on stage.
“After the patron crowd rush and the resulting injury to the Plaintiff, Stefani announced through her microphone and the loud speakers throughout PNC Pavilion that ‘I got in so much trouble for telling you guys to come up here,'” the lawsuit said.
Stricklin is suing the No Doubt former frontwoman and the concert venue Live Nation for negligence, and she is seeking compensatory and punitive damages. She is asking for $75,000 from both defendants.
The concert venue said it does not comment on pending litigation. Stricklin and Stefani were unable to be reached for this story, according to Fox News.
Stefani rose to fame in the mid-1990s with the ska-pop group, No Doubt. The band had hits such as “Spiderwebs” and “Don’t Speak” before Stefani launched a successful solo career with two hit albums: 2004’s “Love. Angel. Music. Baby” and 2006’s “The Sweet Escape.”
Stefani took a few years off of singing to focus on her family with singer Gavin Rossdale and her L.A.M.B fashion line, but in 2016, she released a new album “This Is What the Truth Feels Like,” which was quickly forgotten by fans and ignored by the public which had moved on to younger artists.
Although Stefani’s music career may not be as hot, the now divorced artist and her country singer boyfriend Blake Shelton keep things steamy on the reality singing competition “The Voice” on NBC. The pair frequently show off their love for each other, much to the chagrin of viewers at home.