OK, so there was some kind of fracas at a Fall Out Boy gig in Chicago the other night. I have no idea what happened, but the band's Pete Wentz seems keen to clarify things.
According to MTV this happened at an intimate after show party where the band were playing a quick acoustic set. One of the audience apparently heckled Wentz about the hoodie he was wearing and his rumoured relationship with Ashlee Simpson. Wentz initially heckled back, but as he left the stage some kind of altercation between the bassist and the heckler then took place. Wentz reportedly threw at least one punch, but seemingly it was the band's security that got most carried away.
MTV quote one onlooker thus: "[The band] did their last song, walked off the stage and headed toward a side door to go out onto the sidewalk. But that's when the scuffle happened. The crowd surged back, then snapped forward. From my vantage point, I could see Fall Out Boy security was pounding on the guy. The guy was down on floor, shirt ripped, bleeding from ear and nose. There was a lot of blood".
In his clarification Wentz admits fists were thrown, but defends his actions. He told MTV: "The story on the internet is absolutely false. Yes, we were playing an acoustic afterparty. It was a good time for the most part. Yes, the guy was heckling me and the band, so were other people, most in good fun. But we get heckled onstage all the time, and while I'm a jerk, I'm not the kind of person who would ever lash out at someone simply over this. I mean I'm not as big as Akon and haven't written as many good songs. The truth is on the way out the door I had to pass directly next to the guy and I knew it, so I kept my head down and walked out. As I did, the guy reached out and grabbed me and said something I couldn't really hear - it was a glorious use of the English language, though. As he grabbed me, I punched him. Yell all you want at me, say whatever, but in a situation like that I will defend myself. After that, of course, it got chaotic, [but] we have several independent witnesses that gave statements saying he grabbed me first ... I am not worried over the outcome, as I was clearly in the right. Anything anyone else is saying or writing is simply not true".