Our country is arguably more divided than it’s ever been in our history, with vitriol and violence at the ready from people who can’t handle beliefs that differ from their own. But after Sunday night and watching the video of a deranged concert-goer throwing his phone at Bebe Rexha on stage, all peoples were united in saying, “what the everloving f—?!!” Bebe is a trooper and a professional, so she was back to performing last night without missing a tour stop. Meanwhile, the assailant has been identified as Nicolas Malvagna of Manalapan, New Jersey, and this is what he told NY Police when he was arrested:
The fan charged with chucking a cellphone at Bebe Rexha’s face as she performed at a Manhattan concert Sunday allegedly committed the assault for his own amusement.
“I was trying to see if I could hit her with the phone at the end of the show because it would be funny,” accused phone-pelter Nicolas Malvagna said, according to a criminal complaint.
Malvagna, 27, was arrested and charged with assault, aggravated harassment, attempted assault, and harassment after his alleged stunt left the “I’m Good (Blue)” singer with a black eye.
Rexha, 33, was on stage wrapping up her concert on the Rooftop at Pier 17 when he allegedly hurled the phone at her.
The forceful toss left the singer-songwriter bloodied and bruised, according to police and photos she posted of her injury.
She was rushed off stage and taken to a hospital, where she received stitches to close an open cut above her left eye.
Video taken by an audience member shows the phone flying through the air and striking the Staten Island-raised star in the face–causing her to recoil, clutch her cheek and sink to the floor in pain.
“She staggered around, fell down, and her people pulled her off the stage,” concert-goer Brian Good, 48, told The Post of the “scary” incident.
“Bebe struggles a lot in the industry because of their bias against her age and weight,” he added. “She kept mentioning things that had happened to her in the city or when she was growing up and how happy the show was for her as a sort of homecoming. Sad it ended like that.”
Many fans scolded the violent stunt and called for the person responsible to be held accountable.
“Wow, this is so vile, nasty, and disturbing. Bebe Rexha doesn’t deserve this at all. I hope she is ok, and I hope the person who threw the phone gets charged with assault,” one follower tweeted.
The next day, the Grammy-nominated songstress posted pics of her injury to Instagram with the caption: “Im good.”
Prior to the attack, Rexha said she was “definitely having the best f—cking tour of my life” in an Instagram post.
Malvagna, of Manalapan, New Jersey, was freed without bail following an arraignment Monday.
He was ordered to stay away from Rexha.
Ohhhhhhh… you guys, he just thought it would be funny, that’s all! [insert eye roll here] Ok I have questions on this so-called defense, and will now present in no particular order: do they not teach you in, I don’t know, KINDERGARTEN, that it’s not “funny” to throw and hit somebody with a missile? Should we be despairing about the development of proper senses of humor in the young people of today? Does an investigation need to be undertaken in his hometown of Manalapan Township to see if there have been other victims of his comedy?
I’m not saying this Nicolas fellow is dumb, but I will say that this line of defense is most definitely dumb, in a double-pronged way. For one, the line itself is no defense at all, it’s barely more than a thought. Second, I think there’s an extra layer of idiocy in not realizing how stupid it is, and trying to come up with something else. Am I being clear? There’s an awareness-deficit in this person. His attorney obviously saw that, and is already spinning Malvagna’s anemic statement: “As a fan, Mr. Malvagna’s sole intention was to have Ms. Rexha take photos with his phone, and return it as a keepsake. It was never his intention to injure Ms. Rexha.” And this intention was communicated how–telepathically? Anyway, Malvagna’s actions “as a fan” have led to a restraining order, the possibility of a year in jail or a fine, not to mention the cost of a new phone. Now that I find funny.
I do say this Nicolas fellow is dumb.
Some people live too much online. Probably thought he was going to be Tiktok famous or something,
For her to be bruised and bloodied, there must have been a lot of force in that throw too.
If he just wanted her to take a photo, he would have been throwing it softly in an upwards angle, so it would land on stage with a thud. Not have it hit her face like that.
This kind of terminally online behavior is not it.
This makes me appreciate concert behavior in Japan…some may call it boring, but it is much more civilized and much less, notice me senpai.
It’s not “dumb,” it’s full-on entitled a– hole behavior. “Dumb” feels too much like giving him an excuse!
And I hope she serves him with criminal and civil suits. Even if she’s tough and a total professional who was back to work the next day, it sets a terrible (and scary!) precedent if his only punishment is basically a slap on the wrist. Not responding to this seriously endangers all performing artists.
If we take his lawyer’s defense seriously – that he just wanted her to take some pictures and give it back – it paves the way for other “fans” to do this to artists. And to do worse! Setting aside that it was incredibly dangerous, just the idea that you could “force” an artist to have to interact with you while they are on stage performing (or at any other time!) by hurling your belongings at them, is absurd, entitled, and needs to be demonstrably disproven.
If we take his own defense seriously – that he thought it would be funny – then he thought this action through, enough to consider the consequences of his actions (he’ll get laughs, maybe some social media fame, etc.) and then made a choice to act and assault someone.
He should be charged as such.
It needs to be taken seriously!
It’s not dumb. It’s violent assault by a violent man who comes right out and says that violently assaulting women in public is “fun”. **Violent assaultaabecause it was amusing.
We can only imagine what a psycho he is in private. There’s something deeply wrong with him. Prison may not fix him, but we’ll be safe from his monstrous behaviour while he’s behind bars.
Exactly 💯 Bunny
His actions show he is a disturbed individual. I wonder where he works and how his coworkers must feel having to work with him
Why was he freed without bail? This was an assault.
Right? He assaulted her “for fun”. That is the very definition of “danger to the public” and he should be remanded until his court date.
He’s probably white.
I suppose it’s a short step from abusing people for fun on social media to abusing people for fun in real life.
Bingo! 👆
He wasn’t just tossing his phone up to her to get her to take photos with it if it left a bruise and split her skin like that. He had to have wound up and hurled it at her! He might have some cognitive issues as you say, but I think he absolutely intended to harm her. It was very brave of her to get back up on stage, I don’t know if I could have done that so soon (or at all).
People love to make excuses for shallow, harmful, attention-seeking jerks. Guy doesn’t see other people as fully human, wanted to harm an entertainer he saw as a commodity and capitalize on the incident for his 15 minutes of fame.
I’m too old to know who Bebe is-but I saw a comment that her shows are affordable for youth, can’t people appreciate an entertainer who tries to make their show accessible to fans, and leave it at that?
Guy could have hurt her eye. Hope he receives serious consequences.
As they say ‘its not all men but it was a man’. I can’t get my head around that he thought it was funny – I guess if we all chucked our phones at him and laugh he’d be ok with that. Don’t think so.
Glad she’s ok.
He wanted to “hit her because he thought it would be funny”. That right there is the real world consequence of the online rise of incels, podcast bros, and the andrew tates of the world. Women have become so dehumanized its funny to see if you can hurt them.
And why is she harassed because of her age? She’s only 33! Not that there’s any age that should open you up to harassment.
I was confused by that as well.
B, I had the same thought, he didn’t see her as a human being, just an object entertaining them. Horrible.
I’m right there with you–she struggles in the music industry because of her age & weight??? So she’s not a teenage stick figure & gets harassed for it? And they report this as though it were understandable?? It’s not.
People think wanting to be a pop star starts when you’re a young in late teens and 20s so trying to be one in your 30s is considered late. I thought she started as a song writer then decided to be a singer.
I’m getting strong incel misogynist vibes off this creep. Anyway, I’m glad Bebe is able to continue her tour and is doing well. I do hope they have people posted at all the venues to make sure he doesn’t sneak in.
I came here to say this… it’s funny to throw things at successful women.
Ok then I’ll say it – he’s dumb and a fool! And his attorney sounded crazy with that lame excuse. When I first heard this story, I thought it was some young kid but a 27 yr old “man” ? And the force behind that throw to do that amount of damage- she could have lost her eye! Jail time should be given as this was clearly an assault. He also should be forced to refund every concert goer the price of their ticket for not getting to see a full concert!
Remember the good ole days when the only things that were thrown onstage at concerts were women’s panties?
This is so gross. She could’ve been even more seriously injured by this. I’m sorry that she had to go through this and I hope she’s okay.
Watching him deal with jail will be fun.
That was the lamest excuse I’ve ever heard of, did his lawyer really think anybody’s going to buy that BS.
So Bebe was supposed to pick up the phone that was thrown at her take pictures with it ( I’m guessing it didn’t have a lock on it,) and then spent hours looking for the person who it belongs to?? Like BFFR
You know what is hilarious? Him, having a criminal record.
Throw the whole damn book at his incel azz.
I’m with the consensus of how and when would hitting someone with a phone ever be funny? I just don’t want to live in that world. Poor BeBe.
Will he still think throwing a phone and hitting someone is funny when she hits him with a lawsuit?
It used to be flowers, underwear, tokens of appreciation from fans. I don’t know how it turned to this. Kid Cudi left the stage after someone hit him in the face with something. I just saw a video of a fan rushing onto stage and slapping Ava Max. I will never understand this.