Maroon 5's hit single Sugar may have reached number 2 in the US Billboard Hot 100 earlier this year, but things turned sour for the band's frontman Adam Levine when he was hit by a 'sugar bomb' while meeting fans outside a TV studio in Los Angeles, California.

Adam Levine before being 'sugar bombed' outside the Jimmy Kimmel Live! studios in LAAdam Levine before the 'sugar bomb' attack

The pop-rock group had been appearing on 'Jimmy Kimmel Live!' on Wednesday evening (May 6), and while signing autographs for fans after the show, Levine, 36, was suddenly hit by heaps of powdered sugar thrown at him by someone in the crowd, CNN reports.

Adam Levine after the 'sugar bomb' attack outside the Jimmy Kimmel Live! studios in LA...and Adam Levine after the attack

A "sugar bomb" hurled at the Maroon 5 frontman left him coated in white, said Sgt Robert Payan of the Los Angeles Police Department.

Laura Tijerina, who saw the bizarre incident unfold, said, "Sugar spread all over [Levine], including inside his ear. It looked like he wanted to fight the guy... I think this guy had it planned. It was a brown bag with tape around it, which was weird. I just saw powder everywhere. It was just so quick."

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The suspect, a man in his thirties, was tackled by Maroon 5's security and arrested on suspicion of battery. Police did not release the suspect's name. At the time of writing, Levine has made no mention of the incident on Twitter.

In 2012, Kim Kardashian was flour-bombed outside the London Hotel in West Hollywood. "You have to laugh it off," she said at the time. "I brushed it off and came right back out."