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Hardcore Crowd Strips Banana Costume After Band's Call at Toronto Show

The onstage prompt has ignited debate over consent, performer influence, safety at aggressive punk and hardcore concerts.

Overview

  • At the Lithuanian House in Toronto, End It frontman Akil Godsey called a fan in a banana suit to the stage during the June 5 show and offered the band's setlist to anyone who would "strip the banana," after which attendees tugged off the hood and dogpiled the costumed man.
  • The costumed attendee, identified in coverage as Scott (@geigers.rock.circus), posted on Instagram that he was "an unwilling participant, attacked and clothing removed at the direction of a band" and said the incident left him humiliated.
  • The fan-shot video posted to the r/Hardcore subreddit and a follow-up from the uploader reported the man was "beat up and sore," though no criminal charges or formal complaints have been reported in the latest coverage.
  • Reaction across the global hardcore community has been sharply divided, with some defending scene norms that reject attention-seeking stunts and others condemning physical retaliation and the band's role in prompting the crowd.
  • Similar banana-costume episodes have happened before and the dispute highlights a larger tension in hardcore shows between informal crowd policing, performer influence on audience behavior, and calls for clearer venue safety and consent practices.