An incident at the Mohawk late Tuesday led to a canceled show and several differing online accounts over who’s to blame—and what actually happened.
The downtown Austin, Texas, music venue explained via Instagram that the show, during which rapper Horus the Astroneer opened up for rapper and singer Ghostemane, had been canceled due to “a safety issue.” According to fans who live-tweeted the incident and a fan who spoke to Brooklyn Vegan, Ghostemane threatened to “shoot up” the venue after Horus, who opened the show and is his brother, got into a fight with the venue’s security.
The Florida rappers say the staff of the Mohawk beat up Horus and broke his nose after he criticized the venue’s sound engineer onstage. Two other acts were on the bill.
— Mohawk Austin (@mohawkaustin) November 20, 2019
In the early hours of Wednesday morning, Mohawk put out a statement to several social media pages: “This was purely a safety issue driven by an altercation and the subsequent escalating aggression inside and outside of our venue,” the statement reads. The venue said it has a “zero-tolerance policy” when it comes to “anything that could threaten the safety or well being of our customers or staff.”
The statement explains that staff was forced to call the authorities, which is “standard practice” in instances like these. We’ve reached out to the Austin Police Department.
Just as the Mohawk’s statement was spreading online, Horus the Astroneer took to Instagram. Horus, whose real name is Alec Benjamin, claimed that the Mohawk “decided to keep my sound off during my set” and ignored requests to resolve the issue. “Finally I lost my cool, front of house guy said to met him after the show,” the artist’s statement reads. After Horus began “talking shit,” they cut his set off, and, according to his statement, wouldn’t let him leave the stage.
“I tried to leave the stage and they boxed me in and jumped me and broke my nose, then every one of them dispersed from the venue with their tails between their legs like the dickless worms they are,” he wrote. “I’m deeply sorry for everyone who didn’t get to see the rest of the show, I did not call the police myself.”
Ghostemane, also via Instagram Stories, said that the venue didn’t allow him onstage “in fear of my retaliation for what they did to my brother.”
But a fan clapped back on Twitter: “Opener acts a fool; puts down sound guy, sticks around the venue, headliner tells Mohawk he’s gonna shoot up the venue, the fuck did he think was gonna happen,” user @hyjjus tweeted.
The fallout from the Horus incident
Horus included another statement, touting his love for Austin, as well as a text exchange. “I fucking love Austin,” the artist wrote. “I been here a bunch of times and I’ve been dying to play a show here. Y’all are sick as fuck and I promise we will all be back at an actual venue and we will make it up to you.”
The text exchange appears to be with someone who attended the concert and sent from the account of their pet cat.
“Learn to take a punch before you throw them, pussy,” the initial text reads. “Sit your talentless ass down and apologize to your brother for ruining his show. You’re not proving shit.”
In response, Horus wrote, “did you really just hit me up from a cat account to talk shit?”
A customer who reportedly witnessed the incident also shared their version of events on Instagram. “Alec continuously stated the music wasn’t sounding right throughout his set,” the post from concertgoer Samantha Lewis, who declined to comment to the Daily Dot, reads. “Kept trying to hype people up through the shitty music quality. He said he wanted another mic, and instead was told he would no longer be able to finish his set. He was then forcefully escorted out to the back of the building where four employees beat him, breaking his nose.”
Lewis supposedly has photo and video evidence of the incident.
Lewis and Horus’ accounts of the incident seem to align. Many people online, however, seem to feel the venue’s statement is far more accurate. A slew of Twitter comments following the event claim Horus was firmly in the wrong.
“Fuck Ghostmane and especially fuck Horus the Astroneer,” one person wrote. “Don’t ever disrespect ANY venue staff to the point of violence. Ever.” Most other fans agree.
User @charmcharchar wrote: “There’s tons of people who recorded it so I don’t want to hear anything about him not doing anything wrong.”
Fuck Ghostmane and especially fuck Horus the astroneer. Don’t ever disrespect ANY venue staff to the point of violence. Ever.
— T (@TAYLORMVDE__) November 20, 2019
Also you cant get through a TWENTY minute set with “tech issues”??? He sounded fine
— Char (@charmcharchar) November 20, 2019
What a fucking child
Threw a fit and got what he deserved but fuck him for being the reason the show is canceled
The Daily Dot has reached out to the Mohawk, as well as Horus the Astroneer and several witnesses.
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