End it Lead singer Akil Godsey has made his first public comments since viral moment where he instructed a crowd to tear apart a banana costume worn by one of the fans at the show.
Where “Banana Man” was vocal on social media and later shared his story on The Beardo and Weirdo podcastthe band has gone quiet since the controversial incident. End It deactivated their socials and bowed out of a planned summer tour in the wake of the incident that took place on June 5 in Toronto.
What ended up, Akil Godsey said about the reaction to the ‘Banana Man’ incident
Today (June 24), The End It vocalist posted a video on his Instagram accountwho spoke publicly about the incident for the first time and addressed the reaction the video footage provoked.
“The funniest thing that comes out of all this is people telling me they were disappointed in me because the first song I ever wrote for this band is called ‘Give Up’ where I instruct people to go into the woods to kill themselves,” he shared. “You obviously haven’t listened to the band and I don’t know what the hell you thought was going on over here. We’re a hardcore band. We do hardcore stuff.”
The singer added: “You don’t need to come over here. You don’t need to pay attention to me at all. Everyone in my life loves me very much. I’m well taken care of. I don’t need your attention or validation. I’ll be fine.”
He then added, “Hey, if the band had to stop, so be it. I think I’m going to work. I’m a fully functioning grown man. I want to be fine. There’s more to life than what the hell you think is going on over here. You don’t even know what’s going on over here. We haven’t talked from my parents’ assumptions. You’re living off my assumptions. That. But have fun with the life you’ve made for yourself.”
The Instagram post also came with a caption that alluded to some of the more extreme reactions he’s received. “Thanks for the racism and the death threats and the theses. It’s all been very difficult. I want to raise my child now. Peace,” he concluded.
What happened between End It and ‘Banana Man’
The Banana Man had been part of the audience throughout the End It performance, but in the middle of the set group called him out, claiming his costume was a need for attention. Frontman Akil Godsey said: “Banana guy, come to the front. What the fuck are you doing, my n—a? No, no, no, no, no. You don’t get rewarded for doing that shit. He wanted the attention and now he has it.” “And now everybody’s going to kill you,” said another band member.
Godsey then offered the band’s set list for the night to anyone who wanted to “strip the banana,” adding, “I’m just saying! You asked for attention, now you got it!”
Video of the incident was posted to the r/Hardcore subreddit by the account xRUCKUSx and can be seen below.
Footage – End It calls Banana Man at last night’s Toronto Show
by
u/xRUCKUSx in
Hardcore
What Banana Man said after the incident
Shortly after the incident, the concertgoer in the banana costume shared further Instagram stories””People have tried to dampen my spark all my life. It’s a shame, but I’m used to it. I have surfed hundreds of people in this suit, all genders, all ages, for sure. Especially a lot of beginners who felt comfortable approaching me for their first surf.”
He continued, “@enditbaltmore two of your band members crossed the line … and I’m obligated to talk about it. Fuck the police? While the police wear what people wear? Take off, pants. The message last night: Conform or get called out, the exact opposite of what hardcore is supposed to be. I was an unwilling participant, paid at the direction of a band I wanted to do to do…”
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Then, while appearing on The Beardo and Weirdo podcast, Banana Man shared, “There was no pretext for it as far as I understood. I also didn’t do hours of research on this band before I got to the show, because like you said, I was there for the headliner. I think you can see my happiness, as he calls me, and I reach out for a handshake, no, no, and he gets no, no, no. I was going to say ‘Hey Scott welcome to Toronto,’ but it took a turn pretty quickly.”
Calling the experience “weird,” he added, “”I’m a pretty big person, I’m 200 pounds and 6-4, and this was an all-ages show, so I just can’t swing on kids. Now I’m the bad guy (if I did). So I kind of had to take it,” he shared. “At the same time, if the band had approached me before, I’m all for pranks. I love somersaults. I’m all in. But turn to me, ask. If they would have said, ‘Now you have to kill him for this next song,’ I would have been okay, but I think a few adjectives were misused there.”
When given the chance to address the band, his comment was, “Practice your stage show before you deliver it.”
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Contributed by Rob Carroll (RC), Chad Childers (CC), John Hill (JH) and Bryan Rolli (BR).
Gallery credit: High thread
