A few days ago, an anonymous Reddit poster wrote that at Ariel Pink’s October 14 show at the Chapel in San Francisco, the singer got uncomfortably aggressive with his girlfriend and bandmate Charlotte Ercoli during the show. “He kept grabbing her like a piece of meat,” the post reads, “grabbed her ankle and wouldn’t let her go, attempting to push her into the crowd which she was clearly uncomfortable with, and the most offensive scene was when he literally pinned her down to the stage and got on top of her in a very assault-y fashion.”
Now, Pink has addressed the incident with a series of tweets in which he comes off as apologetic and calls himself “tone deaf,” saying, “Someone recommended I touch base with my fanbase, which I guess is you, Twitter. Rant #1: My first night in San Francisco was a blast. I got very drunk and overdid everything, wrecked my vocal chords, and managed offend with my antics. Over the next three nights, I toned the ‘theatrics,’ but not the voice. Admittedly, [opener John Maus] was a hard act to follow and I was nervous. Sometimes I alienate when I should aim to inspire. This, for instance. STOP. I’m tone deaf and not sensitive enough to the real plight of women these days. My behavior on stage was gross and I can’t defend it.”
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Pink’s tone in his tweets seems apologetic, but in a Twitter exchange with online retailer Indie Vinyl Den this morning, he wrote, “I acknowledged what happened and made no defense, but I did not apologize.”
Ercoli addressed what happened at that show the day before her boyfriend did initially and came to his defense, saying, “Turns out a girl can’t have fun with her boyfriend on stage without being victimized by feminists,” but also admitting that “the customer is always right and it’s a sensitive time.”
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Ercoli also provided a statement to Pitchfork, in which she apologizes for any discomfort they caused with their audience, but also insists that “it’s all in good fun on our end”:
“Ariel and I have been together for years. We are just two Jewish guys up there roasting each other. In this political climate people are very sensitive. And for good reasons that we stand by. I am sorry if we made anyone uncomfortable but I can surely report it’s all in good fun on our end and we were just feeling ‘a little keyed up’/rowdy to be kicking off the tour. We are very close and can play around with each other in that way, but have tamed it down ‘up there’ in order to avoid stirring up fear. Thank you all for the concern. I own ariels ass, don’t worry.”
