Pete’s Side Of The Story
Here’s Pete Wentz’s side of the story about his fight with a fan on Sunday night at Schuba’s in Chicago as he told MTV in an e-mail:
As Wentz told MTV News, this wasn’t just a case of him beating down some dude who was poking fun at his hoodie, but rather a case of self-defense.
“The story on the Internet is absolutely false,” he wrote in an e-mail. “Yes, we were playing an acoustic afterparty for Spin. It was a good time for the most part. Yes, the guy was heckling me and the band, so were other people, most in good fun. But we get heckled onstage all the time, and while I’m a jerk, I’m not the kind of person who would ever lash out at someone simply over this. I mean I’m not as big as Akon and haven’t written as many good songs. [See "Akon's Attorney Denies Criminal Conduct in Fan-Throwing Incident."]
“The truth is on the way out the door I had to pass directly next to the guy and I knew it, so I kept my head down and walked out. As I did, the guy reached out and grabbed me and said something I couldn’t really hear — it was a glorious use of the English language, though,” he continued. “As he grabbed me, I punched him. Yell all you want at me, say whatever, but in a situation like that I will defend myself. After that, of course, it got chaotic, [but] we have several independent witnesses that gave statements saying he grabbed me first … I am not worried over the outcome, as I was clearly in the right. Anything anyone else is saying or writing is simply not true.”
The scrap at Schuba’s is the second Wentz has been involved in this year. In January, he battled a security guard at the Sunshine Theatre in Albuquerque, New Mexico, after the guard allegedly shoved a member of FOB’s security team (see “Pete Wentz’s Punch-Out: Fall Out Boy Bassist Fights Security At Wild Gig”). No charges were filed in that incident.
Here’s Wentz and girlfriend Ashlee Simpson with the Enclave owners Saturday night in the Windy City.