Harry Styles remained calm during a confrontation with an autograph seeker in New York, according to the man involved, who has taken responsibility for the incident and apologised to the singer.
The exchange took place in the Lower East Side on Wednesday, 21 October, as Styles walked towards Madison Square Garden for a show. Video footage appears to show the autograph seeker following him before the pair exchanged words.
The man, who identifies himself as Giovanni and describes himself as the “world’s top autograph seeker”, rejected headlines suggesting Styles had lost his temper.
“Harry didn’t lose his cool. I did. He stayed calm and even helped calm me down,” Giovanni wrote in a statement posted on Instagram.
He said he had been “having a bad day” and admitted that he had been “out of line”. Giovanni added that Styles had “always been a gentleman” to him, dating back to 2012 when the singer first signed something for him.
“The headlines suggesting Harry lost his cool couldn’t be further from the truth,” he wrote. “If anything, I was the one who needed to cool down. I take full responsibility and sincerely apologise to Harry.”
Giovanni said Styles had been “totally chill about the whole situation” and deserved “nothing but respect”.
