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Metallica Guitarist Accidently Kicks A Child

SYDNEY, AUSTRALIA (CBS) - Bay Area Metal Band, Metallica has posted an explanation on their website of the now-infamous "beach ball incident" that occurred during the band's November 11th concert in Sydney, Australia.

Video footage shows guitarist Kirk Hammett kicking a large black beach ball off the stage, which in turn knocked a little girl who standing onstage into the pit. The footage of the incident spread quickly across the Internet, although it was clear from the video that the whole thing was accidental. A "remix" of the "beach ball incident" has been made!

VIDEO: Beachball Incident Remix

Below, the band explains what happened:

Errant Beachball Incident - 11/18/2010
In the whacky world of rock'n'roll, sometimes stuff happens which looks even weirder than it really is! 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 beachball, a band member's foot and a little girl. Some of you will have seen on youtube (or read in some reports) that Kirk knocked a small child offstage by kicking a beachball 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 beachballs drop from the rafters, Kirk was thoroughly enjoying kicking the beachballs 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. - Metallica.com

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