In a statement from his rep to Billboard, McGraw says that he was just "swatting away the forward fan's hand to keep the show moving." In the just over minute-long clip shot from the crowd at Sunday night's (July 13) show at Aaron's Amphitheatre in Lakewood, McGraw is shown making his way down a catwalk, slapping the hands of his fans while performing his 2013 single "Truck Yeah."

At around the 40-second mark, you can see a female fan grab at McGraw's leg. He then reaches out at her in response, which has been reported to be the moment when McGraw slaps the fan.

But when Billboard reached out to McGraw the team explained that he didn't slap the woman, but "swatted" at her to keep her from ripping his jeans.

"At the end of the night during the encore, Tim was singing out in the audience and someone firmly grabbed onto his leg and wouldn't let go as he was moving through the crowd," the statement said. "He instinctively swatted to try and keep them from ripping his jeans (which they succeeded at doing), and so he could get to more fans who were trying to slap hands with him before the end of the show."