the Bangkok incident

In Bangkok, 40 people turned up with massive cameras at the airport after a long flight, and this woman is doing a live broadcast for millions of people. I tried to deal with it as gracefully as I could, just saying I was sorry that I was tired. But this woman just wouldn’t give up and she said (adopts sarcastic tone), Ooh, she obviously hasn’t got any time for us because she’s got more important things to do, and we’ve come all this way because we love her music so much.

I ignored it. I decided it was her problem. So she went for my son, who was nine years old. She goes, Oh, it must be so difficult to be the son of a lady so full of herself that she won’t give me an interview. She put the microphone on him, and I can hardly remember what I did. I was just thinking, You touch my son and you’re dead ! I’m not proud of it at all, but something snapped.

And you beat the shit out of her. On reflection, did the reporter deserve such a battering ?

I don’t know. I don’t believe in punishment like that, but we’re both human. She jumped to the conclusion that she had a licence to behave in a certain way - and I jumped to the conclusion that I had a licence to behave in a certain way, and we clashed. We probably both figured out we were wrong. That’s it, really.

Q, november 1997