WATCH: Corey Taylor smacks phone out of texting fan's hands at Slipknot gig
Slipknot frontman Corey Taylor was highly unimpressed when he spotted a fan texting during a recent show on the band’s North American tour.
Footage of the incident shows Corey prowling the stage in his idiosyncratic way during a typically thunderous ‘Eyeless’ before spotting a man in the front row playing with his phone.
Striding towards the man, Corey smashes the phones right out of his hands and it goes flying in front of the barrier.
> pic.twitter.com/tmQaZkeDD9 > > — Slipknot (@slipknot) July 10, 2016
As if to make an example of his behaviour, Slipknot uploaded the footage to their social media channels sparking a mass debate about whether Corey’s actions were justified.
One Facebook user wrote: “That’s what he gets for playing Pokemon Go at a Slipknot show!”
Countering, another argued: “Should he have been on his phone during a slipknot concert? NO! But it also doesn't give Corey Taylor the right to smack the dudes phone out of his hand kind of a d*** move.”
Defending his phone-smacking, Corey said on Twitter: “It's actually funny - afterward, the dude TOTALLY understood the f*** up and we laughed together haha.”
> If you're gonna text, stay home. https://t.co/w8BLHWci5n > > — Jalapeno Throat, LLC (@CoreyTaylorRock) July 10, 2016
> Okay. But it doesn't mean I w/ a broken neck & still playing a show can't get pissed that someone's ignoring it. https://t.co/NRcJYhE0sc > > — Jalapeno Throat, LLC (@CoreyTaylorRock) July 10, 2016
> Fair enough. But you might wanna do it between sets or between songs. Am I right? https://t.co/JYy08vxHNg > > — Jalapeno Throat, LLC (@CoreyTaylorRock) July 10, 2016
Speaking in 2014, Corey said he loathes seeing people absorbed in their phones: "So many people have their faces glued to their phones and they're not paying attention, I point and laugh anytime I see somebody trip walking down the street, and I'm brutal - I mean, I'm brutal. It's loud, it's obnoxious, there's a lot of pointing, I'm asking people, 'Did you see that?' I love it. I think it's funny.
"Get off your phones and pay attention to what they hell you're doing."
Last year he also blasted selfie sticks joking he wants to beat up the person who invented them: “I would love to find a baseball bat - or a cricket bat in England -and I would beat the living s out of that person probably and then I would go to jail without even being the slightest bit fing sorry."
Last month Apple patented a technology that has the ability to block iPhones’ camera feature on concerts.
The invention uses an infrared beam to stop photography on mobile phones, preventing people from taking videos and photos.