{"id":799837,"date":"2026-08-02T19:48:10","date_gmt":"2026-08-02T19:48:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/799837\/"},"modified":"2026-08-02T19:48:10","modified_gmt":"2026-08-02T19:48:10","slug":"modest-mouse-replaces-guitarist-after-he-allegedly-dmed-minor","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/799837\/","title":{"rendered":"Modest Mouse Replaces Guitarist After He Allegedly DMed Minor"},"content":{"rendered":"

\n\tModest Mouse<\/a> has cut ties with guitarist Simon O\u2019Connor following accusations of sending inappropriate DMs to a minor.<\/p>\n

\n\tOn Friday, the band announced that Les Savy Fav\u2019s Seth Jabour will join them on the tour accompanying their eighth studio album An Eraser and a Maze, which kicks off Tuesday, Aug. 4 in Ojai, California.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cSimon O\u2019Connor will not be joining us on the upcoming tour,\u201d Modest Mouse prefaced in a statement<\/a> on Instagram. \u201cThe 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.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tLast weekend, a Reddit user claiming to be 17 and \u201cfollowing Simon for a few years,\u201d recounted an incident<\/a> that allegedly happened when she was 16, sharing screenshots<\/a> of inappropriate memes and messages O\u2019Connor appeared to have sent.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cLate at night I checked stories and I spam liked whatever it was Simon had put on his story,\u201d she recalled. \u201cHe came into my DMs and sent me an erotic image (to say the least) while giving me the excuse he had been partying or whatever, continuing to message me. My age is the first thing in my bio. I reached out to several people within the indie music fandom and nobody with a platform cared. I think more people should know about this. I\u2019m hesitant to put screenshots here but I do have them!\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tO\u2019Connor broke his silence the next day with a statement<\/a> on Reddit. \u201cHey, Simon here. I would just like to address some of the conversation on this thread that has come to my attention. Firstly, I would like to just state that I unequivocally oppose any sexual behavior towards minors, as a human and a parent it disgusts me,\u201d he started.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cThroughout 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\u2026 but always posts similar photos that I often recognize from previous accounts,\u201d he explained. \u201cAfter a long night, I picked my phone up to discover that a similar profile had been interacting (\u2018likes\u2019 to be specific) with some of my instagram posts and stories. 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 \u2018Simon calls your bluff,\u2019 and an attempt to indicate that I recognized the \u2018barrage of likes\u2019 and similar photo content from the previous profiles\u2026. Almost a \u2018gotcha.\u2019 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.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cI\u2019m genuinely sorry to the person who received those messages. They didn\u2019t deserve to be put in that position, and I\u2019m 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\u2019t change what\u2019s happened. All I can do is tell the truth, take responsibility for my mistake, and apologize,\u201d added O\u2019Connor.<\/p>\n

\n\tO\u2019Connor, who previously toured with MGMT, joined Modest Mouse on guitar and backing vocals in 2021, first appearing on An Eraser and a Maze, which the band released on June 5.<\/p>\n