End It Make Peace Offering After Viral 'Banana Man' Incident, Original Banana Responds

Hardcore band End It apparently tried to "end it" with "Banana Man" after inviting a different banana-suited representative up onstage to hug it out at the Jera on Air festival in Ysselsteyn, Netherlands on June 27.

The group has been largely quiet since their their viral interaction with a concertgoer in a banana costume, which became a divisive talking point in the rock and metal community. The Banana Man told his side of the story and End It frontman Akil Godsey offered no apologies for doing "hardcore things" onstage in a video response.

Now, attempting to have a little fun with the incident and show a sign of peace, Godsey invited a different fan in a banana suit to the stage at Jera on Air where they embraced.

"Who would've thought doing something stupid at a show would get me a month of attention?," he remarked at one point.

After the show, Godsey shared a photo of the embrace on his Instagram Stories and labeled it "The great Banana Treaty of Ysselsteyn."

Meanwhile, Reminitions vocalist Jay Muller shared video footage of the peacemaking gesture on Instagram (post not embeddable).

What Did the Original 'Banana Man' Say About the Gesture?

Weighing in on a post about the End It move on The Mosh Network's social media, the original Banana Man simply offered the comment, "Yea, nah."

He also interacted with a few of the commenters, sharing that he hasn't profited off this interaction. "A few show tickets have come.my way from it. But I'm really more interested in socializing over this than capitalizing on it," he revealed. He also added that he was invited to follow-up once Godsey posted his recent social media response, but declined due to scheduling.

What Initially Happened Between End It and 'Banana Man'?

During End It's June 5 performance at a show in Toronto, the group called him out someone in the crowd wearing a banana costume, alleging it was just a need for attention.

Frontman Akil Godsey said, "Banana guy, come to the front. Fuck are you doing, my n---a? No, no, no, no, no. You don't get rewarded for doing that shit. He wanted the attention and now he has it." "And now everyone has to kill you," said another band member.

Godsey then offered the band's setlist for the night to anyone who would "strip the banana," adding, "I'm just saying! You was asking for attention, now you got it!"

Video of the incident was posted to the r/Hardcore subreddit by the account xRUCKUSx and can be viewed below.

Footage - End It calls out Banana Man at last night’s Toronto Show
by
u/xRUCKUSx in
Hardcore

What Banana Man Said After the Incident

Shortly after the incident, the concertgoer in the banana costume shared on Instagram Stories, ""People have been trying to dim my sparkle my entire life. It sucks, but I’m used to it. I’ve surfed hundreds of people in this suit, all genders, all ages, safely. Especially, a lot of first timers that felt safe to approach me for their first surf."

He continued, "@enditbaltmore two of your band members crossed the line…and I’m obligated to speak on it. Fuck the police? While policing what people wear? Take off, hoser. The message last night; Conform or get called out, exactly the opposite of what hardcore is supposed to be. I was an unwilling participant, attacked and clothing removed at the direction of a band I paid to see… What would you do?”

Then, while appearing on The Beardo and Weirdo podcast, Banana Man shared, "There was no pretext to it that I understood. I also didn't do hours of research on this band before arriving to the show, cause like you said, I was there for the headliner. I think you can see my happiness as he calls me and I reach for a handshake and he goes, 'No, no, no. You don't get rewarded.' I was gonna say, 'Hey, Scott welcome to Toronto,' but that took a turn pretty quickly."

Calling the experience "weird," he added, ""I'm a pretty big person, I'm 200 pounds and 6'-4" and this was an all ages show, so I just can't swing on kids. Now I'm the bad guy [if I did]. So I kind of had to take it," he shared. "At the same time, had the band approached me before, I'm all for antics. I love antics. I'm all in. But approach me, ask. If they would have said, 'Now you have to crowd kill him for this next song,' I would've been okay, but I think a few adjectives were misused there."

When offered the chance to address the band, his comment was, "Practice your stage show before you deliver it."

What End It's Akil Godsey Recently Stated About the Incident

The band had gone silent since the controversial incident and End It deactivated their socials and bowed out of a scheduled summer tour in the aftermath of the incident. They have been playing other shows in Europe on the festival circuit though.

Late last week, however, Akil Godsey shared his first comments about the 'Banana Man' incident since it happened on June 5.

“The funniest thing to come out of all this is people telling me they were disappointed in me, when the first song I ever wrote for this band is called ‘Give Up‘, which is where I instruct people to walk into the woods to commit suicide," he shared. "You’ve obviously not been listening to the band and I don’t know what the fuck you thought was going on over here. We’re a hardcore band. We do hardcore things."

The singer added, "You don’t have to come over here. You don’t have to pay attention to me at fucking all. Everyone in my life loves me very much. I’m very well taken care of. I do not need your attention or validation. I’ll be just fine."

He then added, "Hey, if the band got to quit, so be it. I guess I’ll go to work. I’m a fully functioning adult male. I’ll be just fine. There’s more to life than whatever the fuck you think is going on over here. You don’t even know what’s going on over here. We haven’t spoken in ages. You’re living off of assumptions. Don’t assume, my parents taught me that. But have fun with the life you’ve made for yourself.”

The Instagram post also came with a caption that alluded to some of the more extreme reaction he's received. "Thanks for the racism and death threats and dissertations. It's all been very taxing. I’m gonna go raise my child now. Peace," he concluded.

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