Dropkicking a Female Fan Off the Stage for Taking a Selfie: A Rush to Judgement?
A woman who spent time and money getting to a Story So Far show was literally booted from the stage by singer Parker Cannon during a show at the Mod Club in Toronto Sunday night. Actually, it was more like a WWE move. All she wanted was a selfie and he wouldn’t give it to her. Just one selfie. Just a selfie.
Roll the video.
Open and shut case, right? Parker Cannon, the dude from The Story So Far, kicked this woman–a woman!–in the small of the back with a flying two-footer. Douchebag. Horrific. Ban him!
But wait! There’s more.
Fearless Fred at 102.1 the Edge/Toronto has been doing some serious forensic work and sheds some new light on what may have actually happened. Here’s the incident from another angle:
@lexibiro pic.twitter.com/UVq96lLRoY
— Anna Cuddahee (@a_cudd) April 12, 2016
It’s still a push, but nowhere near what looks like the two-footed dropkick that he appears to execute in the viral video. And then there’s this post, apparently from the woman herself.
Some thoughts I think worth discussing:
- Let’s be clear: Unprovoked violence upon another human being is never acceptable. Man-on-woman violence is always, always repugnant.
- Was there a rush to judgement based on the original video? Was the Internet outrage justified given that some new evidence (see the second video above) has become available? (Mea culpa: I immediately formed an opinion about Parker Cannon’s move on seeing the first video. “Evil asshole,” I thought.)
- Does the fact the woman involved was aware and accepting of physical contact issues found at punk shows mitigate anything? Or is this a case of “No excuses! He shouldn’t have done that EVER!”
- Will her acceptance of the situation make her the target of Internet rage?
- Where will the discussion of events go from here? I’m genuinely interested in what the Internet will do next.
- Will the band ever be able to recover their reputation?
I’ve never understood the appeal of stagediving. But I think if you go to a show, and stagediving and moshpits are part of the norm, I think you have to expect to get pushed around or kicked around a little. Having said that, a surprise hit from behind is a jackass move, doesn’t matter whether it’s a man or a woman on the receiving end. It’s cool that she has no hard feelings about the matter, but I think this should be a wake up call to bands about how to conduct themselves on stage. Give her the 10 seconds to take a selfie. There were plenty of other people getting up on stage, why pick on her?
It’s a punk show and I was drunk, so it’s OK if he assaulted me. [eyeroll]
Her explanation of why she was on the stage aside, he had no business kicking her (call it a push with a foot if you want, it was a kick), and he had no way of knowing what injuries he could have caused. She could’ve gone head-first into the floor.
She was an idiot, but he was an asshole.
Doug, you’re right on.
At this point, what angers me is the shoddy “journalism” of the media. All the news talking heads stirring the internet outrage with a fraction of a clip from one angle. Making sure things looked as bad as possible and then daring the public to try and defend the band.
Sure, Alan is doing a postmortem on the whole debacle (better than nothing) but in the internet age, a day late is too late for the media to ensure that the band, venue, promoter, “victim”s reputation has not gone down in flames.
A couple things… having worked from the stage. If it is “that type of show” where people are moshing up a storm, then a) security should be protecting the stage by directing body surfers back to the pit or b) the band should warm fans they are not wanted on stage or c) the band allows idiots on stage. NEVER NEVER NEVER UNDER ANY CIRCUMSTANCES should anyone be kicked or shoved off a platform. The risk of serious injury in a situation makes the action nothing short of assault. The best bands I have ever seen live had concern for their fans, not animosity.
This new information doesn’t change my original reaction which was “This is not okay”.
I understand at punk shows things can get a little rough and I see stage diving is the norm for this band. I get that. The scenario: I willingly hop up on stage with the intention of a photo and a stage dive ( like I see my fellow concert goers do ) but I’m not consenting to being physically kicked off the stage, by a foot in the back to which I wouldn’t have been prepared for and that being said may have caused serious injury both from the kick and from the surprise of the kick.
Man or woman being physically kicked off the stage from behind is very different from standing up on stage and willingly jumping off.
I’m glad this is being brought to light and that the singer ia being brought to task by the people reading and commentin. By this being swept away and her apparent acceptance of this kick is giving licence to all artists to take out their frustration with people taking selfies and people jumping up on stage to physically take it out on the fan. Yes, a fan. Someone who spent time and money to see you do something you love to do.
Artists respect your fans and fans respect your artists!
Even with the 2nd video the contact was intentional and I can’t see any justification in that. Yes, mosh pits can be rough and if you go to a punk concert you may accept some battle scars, but a band still should respect and try to protect their fans. Moshing and stage diving is one thing, Kicking or pushing your fans off the stage is at a another level. If a fan does cross the line there should be security that could remove the fan in a reasonably safe fashion.
I do kind of understand why the victim was accepting of the situation. As a frequent goer of punk shows she viewed these as battle scars. In a punk rock way that is kind of cool. But, her acceptance doesn’t make it acceptable. Even during aggressive punk shows there should still be some reasonable safety measures in place and the band members in particular shouldn’t be the ones causing the harm.
Don’t get on stage! Put away your fuckin’ phone!
The band doesn’t come to your job and get in your way! Get the fuck off the stage!