Sophia ‘Pee’ Urista, silent amid scandal, isn’t first rocker to urinate onstage
Brass Against frontwoman Sophia Urista appears to have gone pee-shy after being caught on camera urinating in a male concertgoer’s face in Florida.
The NYC rock singer went dead silent after a video of the obscene act went viral Monday on social media, prompting international pundits to describe her as “disgusting,” “devilish” and “pure trash.”
Urista, 36, told crowds at last Thursday’s Welcome to Rockville festival in Daytona Beach that she needed to use the restroom, before inviting a male fan up onstage. The rocker ordered the man to lie down on his back before she unbuttoned her pants, popped a squat and relieved herself on his head.
Urista’s Brass Against bandmates — who are still set as the upcoming opening act for international rock stars Tool — have since apologized, claiming she simply “got carried away.” But the singer herself — a 2016 contestant on NBC’s “The Voice” — has been missing in action, staying off social media and refusing to explain her pants-dropping, eyebrow-raising antics. Multiple messages and calls made by The Post to Urista have gone unreturned.
Meanwhile, social media watchdogs soon clocked that the New York-based musician has been dating high-profile Peloton instructor Jess King since 2015, and the pair became engaged last year. The couple has been featured on multiple family-friendly websites discussing their romance and healthy eating plans.
Peloton told The Post on Tuesday that they “do not comment on our employees’ personal matters.” It is unclear whether King could lose any sponsorship deals over her fiancée’s stunt — but The Post has confirmed that it’s all the buzz in Peloton Facebook groups and King fan accounts.
King took to Instagram on Tuesday sharing a cryptic post that read: “Sometimes showing up to our movement practice is the most powerful decision we make all day.” A fan commented, appearing to repeat a mantra King has uttered during class: “No matter what we’re going through, we have each other!”
Urista could also be facing a criminal charge after The Daytona Beach News-Journal reported that a police report was filed in the wake of the Florida concert.
However, Urista is far from the first vocalist who’s performed an obscene onstage act.
Iggy Pop has vomited on his fans multiple times, while GG Allin used to throw his own feces into the crowd. L7 singer Donita Sparks infamously flung a used tampon into the crowd, telling fans to “eat it.” And, in 1986, Butthole Surfers star Gibby Haynes had onstage sex with a backup dancer as the audience watched.
Multiple other musicians — many of whom are much more famous than Urista — have also allegedly emptied their bladders before stunned audiences, including rock legends Ozzy Osbourne and Gene Simmons. Late grunge rocker Shannon Hoon even aimed his penis at fans in the front row of a show, splashing his urine all over them.
But public peeing isn’t just the domain of bad boy rockers. Wholesome stars such as Shania Twain and Marie Osmond have also gone wee-wee during their performances.
Here, multiple musicians who couldn’t make it to the restroom in time, turning the stage into their personal toilet.
Shannon Hoon — 1993
Hoon — who was the lead singer of LA-based rock band Blind Melon of “No Rain” fame— died of a cocaine overdose in 1995 at the age of 28.
But two years before his untimely death, the rocker was arrested for giving the front row of a show a golden shower.
According to journalist Steve Newton, Hoon shocked audiences at a Halloween gig in Vancouver in 1993 when he performed onstage naked in front of 13,300 people.
In a piece published at the time, Newton wrote that Hoon “started peeing all over the stage and then aimed his weenie at the poor folks in the front row. Considering the duration of Hoon’s urination, it looked like a good pee, but a chorus of boos went up anyway. And the Vancouver police didn’t think it was a good pee, either, because they arrested Hoon after the show on an indecency charge.”
Fergie — 2005
Fergie famously wet her pants during a Black Eyed Peas concert back in 2005, with the unfortunate incident caught on camera.
Photos of the “Big Girls Don’t Cry” crooner’s cargo pants soaked around the crotch area went viral, and the star later described the incident as “the most unattractive moment of my life.”
The now 46-year-old singer was wowing crowds at a show in San Diego when she suddenly began to urinate. Recalling the bladder blunder during a 2014 interview, Fergie said she and her bandmates were late to the show, and she simply didn’t have time for a bathroom break before taking to the stage.
“It was the most unattractive moment of my life.”
Fergie, discussing her accidental on-stage urination
“I’m running on and we jump and do ‘Let’s Get It Started,’ and I get crazy and I jump and I run across the stage and my adrenaline was going and gosh,” the songstress stated.
The pee-inducing performance didn’t define Fergie’s career, however, with the singer going on to release a successful solo album the following year. To her credit, the “Glamorous” hitmaker has managed to avoid a repeat of the incident, staying dry during her subsequent shows.
Gene Simmons — 2014 (in dispute)
The Kiss tongue-thrasher hit headlines back in 2014 after video captured “a stream of liquid flowing out from under the ‘God of Thunder’s’ codpiece” at a show in Denver, Colorado.
Footage from the performance shows a man rushing out onto the stage seeking to mop up the mess before Simmons shoos him away.
But while the star, who is now 72 years old, prides himself on being a cutting-edge rock ‘n’ roll icon, he insisted that the liquid was definitely not urine.
Simmons took to Twitter to share a post, now deleted, which stated: “Poured water down front of outfit to get rid of [fake] blood — was sticking to me. Of course it looks like P [urine]. Great story — love it.”
Ozzy Osbourne — A repeat offender?
Back in 1982, Ozzy Osbourne was arrested for public urination after he relieved himself on the Alamo Cenotaph — a statue erected to honor 189 Texans and Tejanos who gave their lives at the Alamo for Texas liberty in 1836.
The same year, the Black Sabbath rocker hit headlines for biting the head off a live bat during a show in Des Moines, Iowa. And while that onstage incident may have shocked, Osborne hasn’t confirmed whether he’s relieved himself partway through a performance.
However, one source alleges that the now 72-year-old had a reputation for peeing onstage, and doused himself with water to disguise the fact he was urinating in his pants.
Shania Twain — Date Unknown
She may have sung “Still the One,” but Shania Twain also went No. 1 in front of a live audience.
The Canadian crooner confessed to talk show host Andy Cohen in 2018 that she once wet herself onstage — although she didn’t disclose where or when.
“I was very clever in this one moment,” Twain recalled. “I stood up from my chair to get up and sing. I peed myself, and the puddle, I just knocked my glass of water over.”
A voiceover on Cohen’s show, “Watch What Happens Live” additionally claimed Twain had peed onstage “multiple times.”
“I peed myself, and the puddle, I just knocked my glass of water over.”
Shania Twain, revealing how she hid urinating onstage
But the sneaky star, now 56, has managed to avoid any fallout from the impromptu urination, as they went completely unnoticed until she divulged details to Cohen.
Twain’s subtle onstage twinkles impressed her “Watch What Happens Live” co-star, Patricia Arquette. “You’re rad!” Arquette exclaimed, adding: “The show must go on!”
Marie Osmond — 2012
Marie Osmond, 62, was performing with her brother, Donny, onboard a cruise ship back in 2012 when she accidentally wet herself.
According to the Huffington Post, the veteran entertainer was taking a question from an audience member on the high seas when she doubled over with laughter and let her bladder go.
Osmond attempted to mop up the mess with her dress as the startled cruise ship passengers erupted with laughter.
Her brother stood helplessly at her side, before quipping: “We promised you an experience. You got it!”
Update: Late Tuesday night, Urista posted the following message on her Instagram.
