“Those who come to put a damn phone in my face, I consider that what it is: a lack of respect, and I’ll treat that the same way.”
Bad Bunny has responded after a video showed him grabbing and throwing a fan’s phone in the Dominican Republic. On Twitter, he wrote that people who come up to him and shove a phone in his face are showing a “lack of respect,” and that he’ll treat that kind of behavior in the same way.
The now-viral clip, which began circulating Monday, captures a woman standing in front of the Puerto Rican artist as he walks down the street with a group of friends. She holds a phone up to his face, but Bad Bunny snatches it out of her hand and tosses it in another direction. The woman looks shocked and a voice off-camera exclaims, “Wow! Really?” Someone in his group replies, “You have to respect his space, you have to respect his space.”
People were divided by his actions on social media. Some people defended his right to protect his boundaries and called the fan out for violating his space. Others thought he took things too far and that he should have asked the woman to leave him alone instead.
Bad Bunny defended himself on Twitter. “Anyone who comes up to me to say hello, to tell me something, or just to meet me, will always receive my attention and respect,” he wrote. “Those who come to put a damn phone in my face, I’ll consider that what it is: a lack of respect and I’ll treat that the same way.”
Bad Bunny is in the Dominican Republic for the Latin American leg of The World’s Hottest Tour, his first stadium tour, which according to Billboard, boasted a bigger per-show average gross than any tour ever in any genre.
During the holidays, Bad Bunny went to Puerto Rico and handed out about 25,000 Christmas presents as part of his Good Bunny Foundation. Later that night, he threw a surprise concert on top of a gas station.