Late to the convo but this is how I took it as well. Yeah they said he was "Just seeking attention", but very easily can see why the black man lead singer would think the guy being racist on purpose was for attention. The whole throwing bananas/showing bananas/etc thing has been a thing that black athletes have had to endure many times over the years, so I can see why that guy would assume this was what it was about. But there's like 4 more pages for me to read and I assume it's not slime talk so I could be proven wrong by the time I read them!
Reading this thread was a wild ride. Wearing a costume to a show is silly but objectively common when bands hit a certain level. It’s corny but fully harmless. The band are assholes for saying what they said. Full stop. And maybe I missed it… But aren’t the people who did the actual assault kinda the bigger problem here? Like, I get the focus is on the band in this thread. But it’s way worse to me that a bunch of this person’s peers actually took it literal and did the thing.
That's a few minutes of my life I won't get back reading the previous 3 pages. Also save the silly costumes for ska or KGLW shows. Those crowds love that shit.
Discussing this here and elsewhere it seems pretty clear the majority of the people seemingly fine with the dude wearing the banana suit are people seeing bands at 3K cap rooms with stages eight feet off the ground predominantly. Wonder why they don’t seem to care about the suit so much!
No, you're right, the focus has been on the band for inciting the incident, but you're also right that nobody had to actually do what the band said and so yes, absolutely, it sucks that people actually went and did the thing, and for what, a big piece of paper and a laugh? I don't know this for definite, we only have the guy's word to go on, but it sounds like he'd done this plenty of times before with no issue, so I can only say that if no one tells you something is a problem, you have no reason to believe it will be a problem.
I’d be so damn embarrassed if I had to publicly say “I’ve worn my banana suit plenty of times with no issues” but that’s just me lol
Makes sense for a thread focused on accountability to put the emphasis on the band's behavior as they're the "public figures" or whatever but just seemed wild to read ~3 pages worth of posts and nobody said: "Y'know what's really fucked up? The fact that people actually did it and nobody around them tried to stop it." I mean, wearing a costume like that to a show is objectively silly. It's usually a call for attention but I could legit see a situation where a person, maybe not used to going to a show like that, feels a bit more comfortable "dressing up" so they aren't showing their true self or whatever. Definitely a stretch and a super good faith take on it but still... Anybody going to smaller shows who considers themselves part of any music "scene" should be wincing at this one. Both at the band's behavior and the people in the audience. So there's probably a bit of cognitive dissonance going on for other people. Easier to say "LOL banana costumes are dumb" than actually look at the hard truth of what happened and what it says about the artist and the audience involved. (I'm choosing to take everyone in this particular thread in good faith, BTW. I'm assuming that anybody saying "it's dumb and shouldn't be a thing" is thinking and maybe not saying aloud that also the guy didn't deserve to have it ripped off. Much less convinced this is happening elsewhere on the Internet.)
If i'm at a hardcore show, wear whatever costumes you want, but I swear to god if you boneheads sit on the floor and start rowing an imaginary boat in sync you deserve to get stepped on.
i don’t understand the point you’re trying to make. what you just described is standard practice at those shows. wearing a banana costume is not.
I say this with all seriousness, but yesterday I learned a lot about people wearing costumes at shows and it's apparently more common than I expected? I don't know about hardcore shows specifically, but people were talking about banana costumes, chicken costumes, etc. I think people just like having the outlet to be weird.
the guy posting on instagram about all of the shows he goes to in his banana costume is not wearing it because he is nervous showing his true self lol
i'm team end it here because i hate bananas after that being all my toddler wanted to eat for a damn month until she got burnt out on them. but also, just dress up as waldo if you're going to wear a costume to a show. banana costume is cringe and obnoxious.
It's objectively childish and silly to wear a costume to a show of any genre or venue size. But the "stupid costume" seems secondary to the fact that a bunch of people thought it was appropriate to fuck up that person's day. And the fact that other people in the crowd just let it happen. Seems bizarre to focus your energy on anything other than that, TBH.
it's not tall enough to obstruct views of other people. it's just a shirt and some glasses. slime your local banana man
Just want to say that especially now that more people have added to the conversation and we actually have a stew going, I do not regret starting this topic. It was totally worth it.