After previously refusing to participate in the stinky Australian tradition, Harry Styles gave in Monday night and drank from his shoe.
The singer brought it upon himself after arranging for a man in the crowd, named Scott, to "drink something disgusting from what I can only assume is a very warm shoe." After Scott complied, the crowd started chanting that it was Styles' turn.
After taking a moment to think about it, Styles took off one of his Adidas x Gucci sneakers, walked to the back of the stage to fill it up and returned to the microphone.
“This is one of the most disgusting traditions I’ve ever witnessed,” he said, before emptying the contents of the shoe into his mouth as the crowd cheered.
“I feel like a different person,” said Styles. “I feel ashamed of myself. It feels so personal. Such an intimate moment to be shared with so many people. It's fine when Scott does it. I’ll be discussing this with my therapist at length. At length!"
On his last tour of Australia, Styles was defiant when urged to take part in the ritual. “I’m not going to drink out of a bloody shoe,” he told the crowd. “Are you mad?”
A number of visiting artists have done a “shoey” while Down Under (Post Malone has done it more than once) including Kacey Musgraves, who sipped from a stiletto at her show in Melbourne in 2019 after telling a crowd in Sydney: "I’m not f**king drinking out of your shoe.”
SHOEY pic.twitter.com/8xS4OFoloH
— cat (@icecoIdstyIes) February 20, 2023