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Shoes have been used as weapons for time eternal (some more effectively than others), but it never fails to be super strange. In the midst of Hillary Clinton's keynote speech at the Institute of Scrap Recycling Industries meeting in Las Vegas yesterday, an unnamed woman walked up to the front of the audience and chucked a shoe at her. Clinton easily dodged the missile and then peered out into the audience, asking incredulously, "Is that somebody throwing something at me? Is that part of Cirque du Soleil?"
The woman then retreated back up the aisle, hands above her head, as security quickly surrounded her. As she was escorted out, Clinton joked, "My goodness, I didn't know that solid waste management was so controversial. Thank goodness she didn't play softball like I did." Then, the 1,000+ members of the audience gave her a standing ovation. The woman is in federal custody and a "black and orange shoe was recovered from the stage," according to the AP.
The AP also reported the woman, who wasn't a credentialed convention member and shouldn't have been in the ballroom, was very calm:
In the hotel hallway, the middle-aged blonde woman sat calmly on a sofa, wearing a blue dress and thong sandals. She said she threw a shoe and dropped some papers, but didn't identify herself to reporters or explain the action. Security officials then ushered reporters and photographers away.
Well. Why a shoe? Why an orange and black shoe? Why was she wearing flip-flops? This is a lot of shoe-related mystery for a Friday morning.
· Woman Throws Shoe at Hillary Clinton in Las Vegas [NBC]
· Sit Down: Hillary Clinton Debuts Epic Bang Cut [Racked]
· Anna Wintour Throws Her Weight Behind Hillary Clinton [Racked]