Man in banana costume attacked at End It concert speaks out against band
The fruit-clad crowd surfer broke his silence on social media after the band’s frontman told the audience to “strip” him of the banana suit.
A fruit-suited concert-goer has spoken out against Baltimore hardcore band End It after the group told fans to “strip” him of his beloved banana suit in exchange for the show’s setlist. The man, identified only as “Scott,” complained on Instagram: “People have been trying to dim my sparkle my entire life. It sucks, but I’m used to it. I’ve surfed hundreds of people in this suit, all genders, all ages, safely. Especially, a lot of first timers that felt safe to approach me for their first surf.”
But it was the banana man who felt unsafe last Friday at End It’s Toronto show when frontman Akil Godsey singled him out. “Banana guy, come to the front,” Godsey announced. “Fuck are you doing, my n****? You don’t get rewarded for doing that shit. He wanted the attention and now he has it.” Another band member chimed in to suggest, “And now everyone has to kill you.” Godsey offered the first fan who stripped the banana man of his suit a paper setlist, announcing, “You was asking for attention, now you got it!” Footage posted to Reddit shows the banana man being tackled by fans shortly thereafter.
The banana man broke his silence online. “@enditbaltmore two of your band members crossed the line…and I’m obligated to speak on it. Fuck the police? While policing what people wear? Take off, hoser,” he wrote. “The message last night; Conform or get called out, exactly the opposite of what hardcore is supposed to be. I was an unwilling participant, attacked and clothing removed at the direction of a band I paid to see… What would you do?” He further revealed that he has sacrificed three banana suits to the demands of crowd-surfing.
End It has not responded to banana man’s campaign, though other bands—like Canadian punk rock group The OBGMs and Massachusetts hardcore band Escuela Grind—offered him support on social media. End It heads to Germany this weekend, but they’ll have to be careful: the country apparently consumes the most bananas out of any European nation.
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