End It frontman Akil Godsey has made his first public comments since the viral moment where he directed 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 podcast, the band has gone silent since the controversial incident. End It deactivated their socials and bowed out of a scheduled summer tour in the aftermath of the incident, which took place on June 5 in Toronto.
What End It’s Akil Godsey Said About Reaction to the ‘Banana Man’ Incident
Today (June 24), The End It vocalist posted a video on his Instagram account, publicly speaking about the incident for the first time, addressing the reaction that the video footage elicited.
“The funniest thing to come out of all this is people telling me they were disappointed in me, when the first song I ever wrote for this band is called ‘Give Up‘, which is where I instruct people to walk into the woods to commit suicide,” he shared. “You’ve obviously not been listening to the band and I don’t know what the fuck you thought was going on over here. We’re a hardcore band. We do hardcore things.”
The singer added, “You don’t have to come over here. You don’t have to pay attention to me at fucking all. Everyone in my life loves me very much. I’m very well taken care of. I do not need your attention or validation. I’ll be just fine.”
He then added, “Hey, if the band got to quit, so be it. I guess I’ll go to work. I’m a fully functioning adult male. I’ll be just fine. There’s more to life than whatever the fuck you think is going on over here. You don’t even know what’s going on over here. We haven’t spoken in ages. You’re living off of assumptions. Don’t assume, my parents taught me 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 reaction he’s received. “Thanks for the racism and death threats and dissertations. It’s all been very taxing. I’m gonna go raise my child now. Peace,” he concluded.
What Happened Between End It and ‘Banana Man’
The Banana Man had been part of the audience through the End It performance, but in the midst of the set the group called him out, alleging his costume was a need for attention. Frontman Akil Godsey said, “Banana guy, come to the front. 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 everyone has to kill you,” said another band member.
Godsey then offered the band’s setlist for the night to anyone who would “strip the banana,” adding, “I’m just saying! You was asking for attention, now you got it!”
Video of the incident was posted to the r/Hardcore subreddit by the account xRUCKUSx and can be viewed below.
Footage – End It calls out 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 on Instagram Stories, “”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.”
He continued, “@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. 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?”
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Then, while appearing on The Beardo and Weirdo podcast, Banana Man shared, “There was no pretext to it that I understood. I also didn’t do hours of research on this band before arriving to the show, cause like you said, I was there for the headliner. I think you can see my happiness as he calls me and I reach for a handshake and he goes, ‘No, no, no. You don’t get rewarded.’ I was gonna say, ‘Hey, Scott welcome to Toronto,’ but that 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, had the band approached me before, I’m all for antics. I love antics. I’m all in. But approach me, ask. If they would have said, ‘Now you have to crowd kill him for this next song,’ I would’ve been okay, but I think a few adjectives were misused there.”
When offered the chance to address the band, his comment was, “Practice your stage show before you deliver it.”
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Contributions by Rob Carroll (RC), Chad Childers (CC), John Hill (JH) and Bryan Rolli (BR).
Gallery Credit: Loudwire