Indie rock band Paramore has apologized to fans after learning of the alleged verbal and physical assault on women and a gay couple during their show in Salt Lake City, Utah, the band said in a statement on Facebook.
The band’s security team and The Great Saltair venue staff restrained the man accused of assault and removed him from the concert on Tuesday, October 4, according to a statement.
The Great Salt Lake Unified Police Department confirmed that authorities are investigating the incident, but said the report is still being processed.
“PARAMORE DOES NOT TOLERATE violence, homophobia or bigotry of any kind,” the band said in a statement. “It’s very unwelcome in our community and has no place at our shows.”
In comments on the group’s social media pages where the statement was posted, the engaged couple accused him of targeting them because of their sexuality.
“It was my fiance and me,” victim Taylor Shelton commented on Facebook. “Until last night, no one treated us for being gay!”
In a post on her personal page, Shelton described the attack as a hate crime and said the man chased her and her fiance, using an anti-lesbian slur, turning them away.
It started when Shelton’s fiance hugged her, she told McClatchy News. He started yelling “hey, hey, hey, hey, you” at her fiancé and finally said, “You suck, you (expletive, expletive),” she said.
They tried to ignore him, she said. But then he started yelling at another “random girl,” Shelton said.
Fed up, Shelton said she yelled back for him to stop yelling at people he didn’t know and told him to leave them alone.
“At this he threw everything in his hand across the table and stood up. Then he pounced on me, no exaggeration, like a gorilla. Wide arms and legs just came at me and hit me in the face,” she told McClatchy News.
When Shelton stopped security, she said, the man followed her fiance.
She said a guard jumped over a ledge and grabbed him.
“Next thing I know, at least 10-15 security guards and cops are on it,” Shelton wrote in the post. “The guy has been fighting them for a while!”
The victim told law enforcement that they wanted to press charges, and they filed a police report, she said. They told her and her fiancé that the attacker had been taken away in an ambulance with a police escort, she said.
The band’s tour manager also met with the couple to make sure they were OK, she said.
“When we saw the statement [from the band], we were shocked,” she said. “We felt so validated that the band went out of their way to make that statement.”
The band said in a statement that if they had realized what was happening, they would have stopped the show “until the situation was under control”.
“We are very sorry for the fans who were affected or witnessed what happened last night,” the statement said. “We hope you know that we will always do everything in our power to protect you and make you feel honored.”
Shelton said her brother paid them nearly $400 for tickets as a gift, and they ended up seeing barely half of the show.
“We just want people to know that it’s not okay,” she said. “2022, the world is changing. People can no longer treat people this way just because you don’t agree with their life. You may not agree with it, but at least be respectful enough to just leave us alone.’
It was just the second night of the band’s North American fall tour. In a statement, the band opposes violence at any future concerts.
“To make things as clear as possible: Paramore shows are supposed to be a safe place for people.” – says the statement. “If you can’t respect that, don’t come.”