Huge indie band drop guitarist from tour after he’s forced to explain ‘inappropriate messages to teen fan’

A POPULAR indie band have confirmed they have dropped their guitarist from their tour after he sent ‘inappropriate messages to a teen fan’. Simon O’Connor of Modest Mouse was forced to speak out after a 17-year-old female fan accused him of sending her inappropriate messages and an “erotic image”. Indie band Modest Mouse have revealed their guitarist won’t be performing on their upcoming tour Credit: Getty Simon O’Connor has apologised for sending messages to an underage fan Credit: Getty He apologised last week for the incident in which he offered up a lengthy explanation but this week it has been confirmed by the band that he won’t be performing in their upcoming run of shows. Modest Mouse confirmed the news in a simple statement shared on Instagram. Sign up for the Showbiz newsletter Thank you! They wrote: “Simon O’Connor will not be accompanying us on the upcoming tour. “The good news is that Seth Jabour of Les Savy Fav will be jumping in to play guitar.” The band confirmed the news with a simple statement Credit: instagram/@modestmouse It is not immediately clear if they are directly connected Credit: Getty The band made no reference to the recent accusations and it isn’t immediately clear if this is the reasoning behind him being dropped. The accusations were first brought against Simon on the 26th of July. A user on Reddit claims to be a 17-year-old female fan who had received inappropriate messages from the performer. In the post, the fan claimed she had been sent an “erotic image” as well as several other direct messages from him. Most read in TV The fan indicated that her age of 17 was clearly marked and visible on her profile at the time. The Reddit user went on to say that Simon did go on to delete his messages but also shared screenshots of where he had left comments on her “bikini pics”. Simon acknowledged the accusations just a day later and confirmed them to be true in a lengthy statement. He offered up an explanation but admitted it “disgusted” him that he had engaged with someone under the age of 18. Simon wrote: “Firstly, I would like to just state that I unequivocally oppose any sexual behaviour towards minors, as a human and a parent it disgusts me. “Throughout my adult life, there has been a person who has popped up from time to time with the intention of, for lack of a better term, messing with me. “This person creates multiple social media accounts and deletes them… but always posts similar photos that I often recognise from previous accounts. “After a long night, I picked my phone up to discover that a similar profile had been interacting (‘likes’ to be specific) with some of my Instagram posts and stories.” Simon continued on: “I assumed that this was the same person I had dealt with before and, with poor judgement, I decided to reach out with a tasteless meme, a sticker that read ‘Simon calls your bluff,’ and an attempt to indicate that I recognised the ‘barrage of likes’ and similar photo content from the previous profiles… Almost a ‘gotcha.’ “After a few minutes, I realized that I had made a mistake and this was not the person who I had dealt with before. “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 apologise.” Comment now