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Metallica have issued a statement following a shocking incident that was caught on tape during their November 11 show at the Acer Arena in Sydney, Australia.

Fan-shot video showed guitarist Kirk Hammett kicking beachballs around the stage during the band’s encore of “Seek And Destroy,” accidentally connecting with a small child standing at the edge of the stage and sending her backwards into the staging area.

My attempts to seek clarification and a statement from the band, based on my report on Sunday (see “Metallica guitarist accidentally kicks Sydney fan” here), were unsuccessful, so I’m glad the band has released a statement today to update fans on what happened.

“In the whacky world of rock'n'roll, sometimes stuff happens which looks even weirder than it really is! And with context being vital in these situations, we just wanted to address something which happened on the tour the other night regarding a large beachball, a band member's foot and a little girl.

Some of you will have seen on youtube (or read in some reports) that Kirk knocked a small child offstage by kicking a beachball at her.

That little lady is the daughter of the stage manager and dressing coordinator, who are fortunate to travel as a family on this tour. She was thoroughly enjoying watching the beachballs drop from the rafters, Kirk was thoroughly enjoying kicking the beachballs off the stage and back into the crowd as has been done every night on the tour, and neither of them saw the other.

The poor wee one happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time. She wasn't hurt. She didn't go "flying several feet into the audience." And Kirk and she remain good buddies.

It's very cool that everyone showed concern and support though, so we just wanted to say "it's all good" and thanks for asking.”

Metallica, and their crew, clearly have a sense of humour about the incident: this picture was posted on the band’s “MetOnTour” gallery (from their website) on Sunday: