Disagreed. The attack stopped only because afroguy chose to stop. That guy was so slow on stage he could have killed her in that period of time.
And.....someone was hurt.....the girl that got sucker punched......
Ah well... Agree to disagree.
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Afroman?
- Thread starter Renaissance
- Start date
Disagreed. The attack stopped only because afroguy chose to stop. That guy was so slow on stage he could have killed her in that period of time.
And.....someone was hurt.....the girl that got sucker punched......
Ah well... Agree to disagree.
This is punk rock. How many times have you seen a punk show where people hop on stage and get punched or kicked by the artist? Other people hop on stage and the same thing happens.
If it were a drunk guy would your feelings be the same?
If it weren't Afroman and it was some washed up old white guy would your feelings be the same?
/playing devils advocate
If it were a drunk guy would your feelings be the same?
If it weren't Afroman and it was some washed up old white guy would your feelings be the same?
/playing devils advocate
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I think I'm the wrong color for the race card... and it's a shame that you can't answer the question without being defensive. The pre-supposition was that this is a common act in punk rock shows. It's sad that you missed an element of this discourse due to your own prejudices.
For the mother-loving win right there.
As for the arguing going on, I say props to the dude. He was obviously more worried about the welfare of the girl than starting a brawl with Afrodouche, and that's pretty legit in my book. Afroman will get what's coming to him.
There it is again.
Whether Afroman is black or white, cold-cocking a drunk girl is unacceptable in my book.
And, bluntly, I question your "pre-supposition" I've seen a number of weird things at punk shows, but a girl getting sucker-punched isn't one of them. I did see a singer sucker-kick a guy in the back of the head, once.....but then he got pulled off the stage and beaten.
This forum has a tendency of piling on, and very rarely engaging in "talk"... I appreciate this answer!
After all, without discourse, we are all lost as a society.
I agree.
Also, we have a new lyric to add to the Afroman song:
"I punched a woman in the face, because I was high".
Too soon?
Something moved out of his peripheral vision and he swung. It is VERY common these days for people to get punched when they rush the stage. Just go to Blabbermouth.net and start reading, there are a few incidents like this every month. Randy Blythe just pushed someone away in the Czech republic and someone wound up dead, remember? Dimebag's killer did not rush the stage in army fatigues guns a blazin. He just calmly walked up to the stage and pulled the trigger. This woman could have been armed and mentally ill, few if any clubs have metal detectors. Anything could have happened here. Most threats you don't even realize are a threat until you are bleeding out. Crazy people are literally everywhere.
STAY OFF THE STAGE PEOPLE! We as the audience did not buy a ticket to watch you get the crap kicked out of you. We bought a ticket to listen to live music. Stop being a child.
The way I see it, there is no right in this situation. The woman should have never gone on stage. Afroman should have never swung without confirming what he was swinging at. Crowd should have walked out the second it happened. Boyfriend made a token gesture after the fact and would have gotten stomped by security if he tried anything. Boyfriend should have stopped her from going on stage.
STAY OFF THE STAGE PEOPLE! We as the audience did not buy a ticket to watch you get the crap kicked out of you. We bought a ticket to listen to live music. Stop being a child.
The way I see it, there is no right in this situation. The woman should have never gone on stage. Afroman should have never swung without confirming what he was swinging at. Crowd should have walked out the second it happened. Boyfriend made a token gesture after the fact and would have gotten stomped by security if he tried anything. Boyfriend should have stopped her from going on stage.
Just for the record, my comments would be identical no matter what the colour, gender, or type of music being played.
Can someone explain to me how the venue let some random fan get up on stage?
He handled the situation poorly, but come one man, where was security?
He handled the situation poorly, but come one man, where was security?
Yeah, forgot to add to my list of blame is the venue. The judge in Blythe's case put a lot of blame on the club. There should always be a "pit" or empty space between the crowd and performers. Gives security an opportunity to react. If the crowd is right up to the stage, security doesn't stand a chance at stopping someone from getting to an artist.
Another reason these bands/performers have had enough is economics. During a lot of these incidents their gear gets broken by drunk morons landing on their amp, PA, etc. You break their PA and they just lost a ton of money. You are at the mercy of the venue and the competence of it's security team.
I love that artists are stopping shows now because of the way the crowd is acting and calling them out. Metal/punk acts have had enough of the borderline sexual assaults happening to female fans who are crowd surfing. They've also had it with having everyone holding smartphones over their heads and ruining everyone's view.
Another reason these bands/performers have had enough is economics. During a lot of these incidents their gear gets broken by drunk morons landing on their amp, PA, etc. You break their PA and they just lost a ton of money. You are at the mercy of the venue and the competence of it's security team.
I love that artists are stopping shows now because of the way the crowd is acting and calling them out. Metal/punk acts have had enough of the borderline sexual assaults happening to female fans who are crowd surfing. They've also had it with having everyone holding smartphones over their heads and ruining everyone's view.
This thread is the first I've heard about the incident. A couple thoughts...
First of all, the notion that this is punk rock and it's all part of punk culture is absurd. Afroman is about as punk rock as my aunt Sabra. The girl who got punched was no mosh pit animal either. This article - Afroman Arrested After Punching Fan Onstage - tries to compare the assault to other cases of celebrity musicians and singers hitting fans, but this is not much like those. The girl didn't rush the stage, didn't grope or grab at him, nothing like that. She got up to dance and no one stopped her, that's all.
Second, the statement from him and his people is that the punch was an "involuntary reflex" caused by the girl's startling him with an invasion of his personal space, and by unspecified "outside uncontrolled forces." They should probably go looking up the definition of "involuntary" and "reflex." Nobody punches someone as an actual involuntary reflex. What they mean is that he didn't think before acting, which is no excuse. I'm sure the "outside uncontrolled forces" were probably pharmaceutical in nature.
They also say that he was on edge because he thought the girl was a guy who had been heckling him earlier. Apparently turning around to look and see who was there was out of the question.
Third, I'm not surprised that no one in the crowd decked him. It's pretty clear from the one guy that did get up that getting on the stage was not that quick and easy to do. Also, the punch was so unexpected and out of the blue, you have the "startle" moment when people are registering what just happened and try to figure out how to respond. Usually, the kinds of things that people are talking about, you can see trouble coming. You're in a bar with some ugly drunks, a skeevy character comes up to you, whatever - you're braced for trouble and ready to go at it if someone starts something. This wasn't like that. Sheer surprise, plus probably a fair dose of pharamaceuticals in the crowd, and no one knows what to do or what just happened. I once had a guy try to pick my pocket as I was walking down the street. Literally looked down and his hand was in my pocket, going for my wallet. I whipped around and stared at the guy, my brain racing to process what was happening, and thinking, "I should deck him." But before the signal reached my body to act, he ran off. Afroman kept playing after hitting the girl, but pretty quick the house lights came up and the cops arrived.
Finally, I'm a peaceful guy, I don't get into fights. But frankly, I think there is a place for decking a guy who crosses the line like this. I don't believe in a Big Brother state where the only acceptable response to someone doing wrong is to call the authorities. People need to know that there are more immediate, visceral consequences that are going to happen if they don't treat people right. Decking the guy may not make the world a better place, but a world where you can do what you please and be confident that no one will deck you, no matter how outrageous your action, is definitely a worse place.
First of all, the notion that this is punk rock and it's all part of punk culture is absurd. Afroman is about as punk rock as my aunt Sabra. The girl who got punched was no mosh pit animal either. This article - Afroman Arrested After Punching Fan Onstage - tries to compare the assault to other cases of celebrity musicians and singers hitting fans, but this is not much like those. The girl didn't rush the stage, didn't grope or grab at him, nothing like that. She got up to dance and no one stopped her, that's all.
Second, the statement from him and his people is that the punch was an "involuntary reflex" caused by the girl's startling him with an invasion of his personal space, and by unspecified "outside uncontrolled forces." They should probably go looking up the definition of "involuntary" and "reflex." Nobody punches someone as an actual involuntary reflex. What they mean is that he didn't think before acting, which is no excuse. I'm sure the "outside uncontrolled forces" were probably pharmaceutical in nature.
They also say that he was on edge because he thought the girl was a guy who had been heckling him earlier. Apparently turning around to look and see who was there was out of the question.
Third, I'm not surprised that no one in the crowd decked him. It's pretty clear from the one guy that did get up that getting on the stage was not that quick and easy to do. Also, the punch was so unexpected and out of the blue, you have the "startle" moment when people are registering what just happened and try to figure out how to respond. Usually, the kinds of things that people are talking about, you can see trouble coming. You're in a bar with some ugly drunks, a skeevy character comes up to you, whatever - you're braced for trouble and ready to go at it if someone starts something. This wasn't like that. Sheer surprise, plus probably a fair dose of pharamaceuticals in the crowd, and no one knows what to do or what just happened. I once had a guy try to pick my pocket as I was walking down the street. Literally looked down and his hand was in my pocket, going for my wallet. I whipped around and stared at the guy, my brain racing to process what was happening, and thinking, "I should deck him." But before the signal reached my body to act, he ran off. Afroman kept playing after hitting the girl, but pretty quick the house lights came up and the cops arrived.
Finally, I'm a peaceful guy, I don't get into fights. But frankly, I think there is a place for decking a guy who crosses the line like this. I don't believe in a Big Brother state where the only acceptable response to someone doing wrong is to call the authorities. People need to know that there are more immediate, visceral consequences that are going to happen if they don't treat people right. Decking the guy may not make the world a better place, but a world where you can do what you please and be confident that no one will deck you, no matter how outrageous your action, is definitely a worse place.
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Well I guess I'm gonna be a voice in the unpopular crowd. I've had people come up on stage during a gig before. For the majority of incidents, it has just been an annoying drunk guy or girl who tries to grab the mic. It's annoying, for sure, but you can usually get rid of them fairly easily. The other times, however, I've seen several thousands of dollars worth of gear get destroyed, I've seen my band mates get groped, I've been groped, I've had band mates get verbally assaulted from on stage, I've had a singer get knocked off a 6ft. stage, I've almost been knocked off stage, etc... You're talking about some potential hazards when people jump on stage who don't belong there, and you don't always know what they're going to do (ie. the Dimebag incident). I do think Afroman overreacted, but I can't completely hate on Afroman for doing what he did.
I get that. The article I linked to in my post had links to videos of other episodes. Amy Winehouse getting close to a crowd (with a hulking security guy right there) and punching (swatting, more like) a guy who grabbed at her hair. Tim McGraw out on a catwalk and slapping a female fan who apparently grabbed for his crotch. Keith Richards slamming his guitar into a guy who rushed the stage - and from the video, was apparently trying to rip the guitar out of Keith's hands. There are definitely circumstances where a punch might have been justified, or at least where you can say it was provoked. What's different here is that he didn't even look to see who he was punching. And after he had laid her out, he didn't stop playing and say sorry or tell the crowd they need to cool it, he just went on playing until the house management hit the lights. He could have told her, or gestured, to get her off stage. He could have stopped playing and called security up. He could have LOOKED.
I agree. Like I said, I think he overreacted, seeing as he likely already knew who it was. That said, the good ol' TB dog pile seemed to come into full effect with this video, and I think someone needed to bring the opposing argument into discussion. We also had the waving of several overzealous e-penises saying how they'd be quick to use violence against Afroman if they saw this in person. All I can respond with is
