Overview
- Over the weekend multiple Reddit posts published screenshots that a fan says show guitarist Simon O'Connor sending a sexually explicit meme and suggestive messages while she was 16, with one screenshot showing a countdown to her 17th birthday.
- The screenshots record O'Connor opening with a sticker that read “SIMON calls your bluff BUZZ,” viewing the fan’s Instagram story, deleting a message that referenced “bikini pics,” and sending another message that read “I did it again.”
- O'Connor posted a response on the Modest Mouse subreddit saying he had misidentified the account as a repeat harasser, that he immediately unsent messages and stopped contacting the user, and that he is opposed to sexual behavior toward minors.
- As of the latest reports news outlets note the allegations rest on the user-published screenshots and the fan’s account and there has been no independent forensic verification, no statement from Modest Mouse or their label, and no reported law-enforcement action.
- O'Connor has been part of Modest Mouse since 2021 and appeared on the band’s June album, and the case highlights how deleted or unsent messages and public social posts can complicate efforts to verify private online exchanges and to hold people accountable.