The “Banana Man” has a message for the hardcore group that ordered his suit shredding at a recent show in Toronto. “Practice your stage show before you deliver it,” he offered to the band End It while appearing on The Beardo and Weirdo podcast with Five Finger Death Punch‘s Chris Kael and comedian Craig Gass.
The heavy music fan has a history of turning up at rock and metal shows in his banana costume, but was apparently taken by surprise when his existence led the opening band End It to direct the audience to shred his suit in return for a concert setlist.
What “Banana Man” Said About the Altercation During End It’s Performance
Perhaps the biggest surprise for “Banana Man” was that the thought thatan attack was even coming.
“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,” he shared, later adding, “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.”
Even as he was called to the front of the stage by the band and told what was about to happen, it’s still didn’t quite set in.
“I don’t know that I really took it in until it started to get a bit more violent,” the suited fan recalled. “There was a point where someone pulled on my back and it started to restrict my neck pretty significantly. And at that point, in my head, I’m like this is kind of not going the way it probably should in the scene that I’m a part of. So I started hitting and I’m sure some people are more hurt than I am.”
Calling the experience “weird,” the “Banana Man” states that he was put in a unenviable situation.
“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. 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 OK, but I think a few adjectives were misused there.”
While he suffered”a couple scrapes,” the “Banana Man” says his physical harm was pretty minimal though the suit did not survive.
What the Podcast Hosts Said About the Incident
“There is nothing about what this guy went through that is OK,” commented Gass. “What he went through is ridiculous. For someone to be that stupid that you are offended by a guy wearing a costume and to perceive it as someone looking for attention, to be that triggered by a guy in a banana outfit, is so ridiculous.”
“I love hardcore music, I love metal. I love the community and to see something like that happen to someone in our community, I was outraged,” added Chris Kael, who also extended a show invite and meet-up for the next time that Five Finger Death Punch are in the fan’s area.
READ MORE:25 Legendary Hardcore + Punk Albums With No Weak Songs
Though he told End It to practice their stage show, “Banana Man” concluded with a positive note to the hardcore community:”Let’s take care of each other out there. Life is too short.”
“Banana Man” Guests on The Beardo and Weirdo Podcast
About the Beardo and Weirdo Podcast
The Beardo and Weirdo podcast stars comedian and big time rock and metal fans Craig Gass and Five Finger Death Punch bassist Chris Kael. Together, they share a lot of laughs as well as personal stories that hit on serious topics such as addiction and recovery.
New episodes every Thursday.
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Below, see our picks for the best hardcore albums of 2025.
The 11 Best Hardcore + Metalcore Albums of 2025
Metalcore and hardcore encompasses its widest range of sounds yet as we’re over halfway through the decade. Here’s the best records of 2025.
Contributions by Rob Carroll (RC), Chad Childers (CC), John Hill (JH) and Bryan Rolli (BR).
Gallery Credit: Loudwire
