Earlier this week, screenshots surfaced allegedly showing Modest Mouse guitarist Simon O’Connor sending inappropriate messages to a young fan via Instagram. O’Connor subsequently apologized, claiming he had mistook the fan for a troll with a history of harassing him. Now, Modest Mouse has officially announced that the guitarist will not be performing with the band for the remainder of their scheduled tour dates.
“Simon O’Connor will not be joining us on the upcoming tour,” the band posted on Instagram. “The good news is that Seth Jabour of Les Savy Fav will be jumping in to play guitar. We look forward to being out there with you all.”
The claims first surfaced when the fan took to r/ModestMouse on Reddit to detail the interaction. She then shared screenshots that show O’Connor beginning the exchange by direct-messaging her a sticker and sending an explicit meme before deleting the latter and apologizing. The fan replied by saying she had assumed he’d been hacked, to which O’Connor responded, “Wish I was hacked just had a party night and looking at everything with one eye ya know.”
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A few messages later, he continued, “But you did blindside me with a gaggle of likes and then very little intro besides bikini pics so we are both to blame.” He then seemingly deleted that message, following up with, “I did it again.”
In her post, the fan explained that she was 16 at the time and that her birthday was in her bio. She wrote that O’Connor had viewed a story with a countdown to her 17th birthday, as well, posting additional screenshots to back her claims.
After the messages came to light, O’Connor issued an apology. He claims he had mistakenly believed the fan was a troll who had previously made burner accounts to provoke O’Connor. “After a few minutes, I realized that I had made a mistake and this was not the person who I had dealt with before,” he continued. “I unsent the messages and immediately ceased communication. I’m genuinely sorry to the person who received those messages. They didn’t deserve to be put in that position, and I’m sorry for the stress and attention this has brought them. I know some people will choose not to believe me, and I understand that. I can’t change what’s happened. All I can do is tell the truth, take responsibility for my mistake, and apologize.”
O’Connor has played guitar for Modest Mouse since 2021. He has also served as the touring bassist for MGMT.
Modest Mouse will now move on with their tour, which supports their new album An Eraser and a Maze, without O’Connor. Les Savy Fav member Seth Jabour will take his place.
