Just in case you're wondering, the cops have now said that Tim McGraw whacking a grabby fan is perfectly okay because she ripped his pants.
What?
TMZ spoke with local police who say that Tim was justified in hitting the lady and that his reaction was perfectly normal because she assaulted Tim first. Besides that, the woman hasn't complained to police and until she does there's nothing they can do.
While Tim's actions may not be criminal, they're still just plain wrong and I'm confused as to why people are defending him. His rep tells People Country:
"At the end of the night during the encore, Tim was singing out in the audience and someone firmly grabbed onto his leg and wouldn't let go as he was moving through the crowd," a rep for McGraw tells PEOPLE Country.
"He instinctively swatted to try and keep them from ripping his jeans (which they succeeded at doing!), and so he could get to more fans who were trying to slap hands with him before the end of the show. He didn't know who had grabbed him and was simply trying to keep his pants from being torn."
So ripped pants are a reason to slap someone upside their head? Tim probably has 100 pairs of the exact same jeans. The thing about this is Tim slapped the woman's hands away from his pants and he was free. The ripping her hands away from his leg should have been enough. Unfortunately, once he was free he distinctly looked down at the woman, bent over, and hit her hard enough to make her head rock sideways. I don't care how in the moment he was, striking out was overkill and shouldn't be defended.
The lady was clearly out of line when she grabbed Tim's leg, but he's walking through the crowd and fans get excited. He's been in this business long enough to know that walking within arm's length of a crowd of rabid fans can be dangerous.
"He didn't know who had grabbed him and was simply trying to keep his pants from being torn," his rep explained. So what if this had been some 10-year-old little kid that grabbed him? Would that make people see it in a different light?
What if Tim and Faith were in an argument and Faith grabbed his arm trying to keep him from walking away. And what if Tim reacted by cuffing her hard enough to snap her head back. How is that any different than this?
Grabby fans suck and they ruin things for those fans who just want to be able to get up close and personal with stars, but still, nobody deserves to be slapped/hit/punched/cuffed or whatever you want to call it just because they got a little over zealous, even if their overzealousness results in a wardrobe malfunction.
I'd have less problem with this situation if Tim had just come out and apologized. We all get caught up in the moment occasionally and crappy things happen and I would have understood. The fact that he would rather send out some lame excuse about hitting some lady because he wanted to keep touching fans and didn't want his pants to rip instead of just manning up and saying sorry for over-reacting just kind of sticks in my craw and makes me think just a little less of the singer.
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