Puh, macht Euch auf was gefasst! Harley Flanagan, Sänger und Bassist der Cro-Mags, postete vor wenigen Tagen, dass er bei einem Auftritt der Band in Baltimore attackiert worden sei. Wie er berichtete trugen die Täter Skimasken und griffen ihn mit Messern und Pfefferspray an. Dabei soll es sich um Mitarbeiter:innen eines Fanzines gehandelt haben.
Nun gab sich das Destroy Zine als zweite Streitpartei zu erkennen und postete die eigene Sicht der Geschehnisse bei Instagram. In dieser Version der Ereignisse ist Flanagan selbst die Ursache der Eskalation gewesen und habe ein weibliches Crewmitglied des Magazins belästigt und attackiert. Den Beitrag (der auch ein Video der Auseinandersetzung enthält) findet Ihr unter dem ausführlichen Statement.
The Cro Mags offered us “press passes” over Instagram messenger to come document their show at Cafe 611 in Frederick Maryland. We happily said “yes” as we were fans of their band. We went with the possibility of an interview with Harley Flanagan of the Cro Mags, and we were very excited to meet them at first. We arrived at the show and went to the vending area. Merch is completely set up and ready to go. People start coming to check out what we have and asking us about prices for things. As a kid is purchasing a patch from our table Harley Flanagan of the Cro Mags walks up to us and started asking us about the art on our magazine cover. He then slapped our female editors thigh multiple times and said to her: “yeah you better close those legs little girl, you’re sucking me in” She exclaimed anxiously that she is on the back cover of the magazine, hoping to deflect the attention to something else, in which Harley reply’s “damn right you are, I’ll see you later tonight”. Then he proceeded to say our ‘magazine looks great’ and asked us to reserve him a copy as he wants to see “what we’re up to”. We felt let down, disappointed that someone who is looked up to by so many people just felt welcome to openly say that in front of us, let alone TOUCH a young girl. Harley’s “nephew” or “son” as he says then comes over to her and apologized for Harleys actions. We didn’t interact with the band or any of their crew after that besides to give Harley a Silver Sharpie. He had started yelling at us about the sharpie and we gave it to him in hopes he would leave us alone. Throughout hanging out at the show, Harley would stare at our photographer/editor on multiple occasions, walking by and/or just standing at the door across from our table. When we spotted Harley, they would look away and try to avoid contact. After a while, Deathwish (the 3rd band to play before Cro Mags) was up and we listened for a bit. We were hanging in the merch room, just chatting, and went to go check out D.R.I’s merch table which was off to the right, a door’s length away from us. Our photographer/editor watched the table alone. We were talking back and forth, checking out the shirt rack at the DRI table when we started to hear our editor/photographer confront Harley as he was staring at her, talking to his crew, and gesturing towards her at the doorway. This was obvious, as each time she would move out of Harley’s sight he would then move in sight of her. This happened a few times before initially calling him out. We quickly left the D.R.I table to de-escalate the situation. His “nephew” started threatening violence as we said “please walk away, we just want peace.” We begged for peace multiple times. They were made well aware of their sexual assault at the start of the show, and Harley exclaimed something to the effect of “maybe your girlfriend shouldn’t have her pussy out and I wouldn’t be looking” he then proceeds to rip the other editors mask off and the editor is then pulled back by members of the crew and swung at a few times. He was initially able to get out of it before more hits could’ve be taken. As that occurred, Harley is in the other editors face, pointing at him saying “I’m going to break your friends legs and it’s going to be all your fault”. The Singer of D.R.I then exclaimed from behind his table “they aren’t even in a band” which Harley repeated loudly to the whole crowd. (He knew we weren’t a band, we were there to interview him, after he claimed to give us press passes we never saw or received.) He screamed these things, all while flipping our merch table full of glass bottles, magazines and all our art while there were children nearby. It was after that, the editor who was being pointed at pepper sprayed Harley in the face so that couldn’t hurt our photographer. He also had to pepper spray Harley’s “nephew”/“son” because they began to rush us from all sides. Our editor was swarmed by their merch guy who was supposedly Harleys “nephew” and another person, as well as Harley. He was repeatedly beaten and kicked and punched as he fell to the ground, curling into a ball while closing his eyes and covering his face. He was dizzy and delirious. We used pepper-spray in self defense, and our female editor used a taser to protect herself from the assault. Tasers are legal in the state of Maryland for purchase (without permit) and are legal for use in self-defense situations. We acted in self-defense within the boundaries of the law. Our female photographer went to save our editor but she was grabbed by her arm by one person while another man named Don Ramirez grabbed her by the throat. Don Ramirez is a former adjunct faculty at Shepherd University and self-proclaimed “former employee of the Frederick Psychiatric Unit”. They twisted her arm and said they were going to break it. Harley then jumps on top of her but she kicked him in the groin. He then exclaimed “you little bitch” while holding himself and then buckling. Eventually, we were able to get free and we attempted to escape the assault. Harley then grabs his double-edged dagger from the floor, which had been in his pocket, and points it at the our female photographer and backs her out the door while saying “get her the fuck out of here”. This happened while the other editor watched from the doorway in fear, being repeatedly punched by multiple people as the vocalist of DRI blocked him from helping her. After everyone was able to get out of the situation, Harley then takes our bag and starts stealing stuff from inside it. One thing in it being a sewing-kit made for sewing band patches. We had come to the show excited for new patches. This kit also had floss in it which was used for sewing patches. Harley stole the money out of the bag and everything else in it. He was seen by the show promoter’s daughter and other people. Afterwards, Harley continued to smash the merchandise on the ground and when a friend of ours came to pick it up for us, Harley ripped it out of their hands and threw it into the trash outside. We had to flee the scene as we were kicked out and barred by people claiming to be “security”. One of these men was Don Ramirez, who posted on Facebook later admitting to his actions. He was not security and he has been actively bragging about his choices. He also can be quoted from a Facebook post he made, that the editor who was beaten to the ground “begged him to to ‘GET ME OUT OF HERE’” Since then we have been harassed online by fans of the Cro Mags and also Don Ramirez. Harley Flanagan has made multiple posts in which he weaves a tale that changes each time. He has been inviting his fans to come after us online and some fans of Cro Mags are even threatening to “hurt” and “jump” us, while sharing the Cro Mags song “Street Justice”. They clearly wanted to hurt us and we wanted to get away and protect ourselves. Since we have escaped, we have done plenty of research on Harley Flanagan and learned that he has stabbed multiple people, including his own former band members. We also discovered that he has sexually assaulted girls in the past. We even discovered he was a proud Nazi. Had we known of his criminal past, we would not have accepted his fake offering of “press passes” which we never saw or received. We feel as though were cornered by the Cro Mags who were acting intoxicated, and set up to be assaulted. Our female editor was a victim of Harley’s unwanted sexual advances, harassment, and sexual assault. We acted in self defense and are shocked, appalled, and deeply disappointed by the way the Cro Mags, their vocalist Harley Flanagan, his “nephew”/“son” (as he claims), and Don Ramirez assaulted us. We encourage everyone to come forward as witnesses and to share their story. Please keep your friends and family safe at shows and in the world. We love you all.Destroy Zine
The truth doesn’t matter anymore. It’s all about getting likes, getting clicks getting views and in this particular case selling magazines. If you are a musician a comedian,actor,politician or any one in the public eye you are a target. Think about John Lennon and Dime bag. I’m a nobody I’m not comparing myself to them. I’m just saying Any kind of fame or popularity makes you a target for fame seekers and it’s fucked up. Everyone who was there and saw what happened knows what happened and the truth will come out but nobody will care when it does. Thank you to everybody who is not jumping on the bandwagon everybody who’s actually waiting to hear the truth thank you to all the people supporting me and my family. A lot of people are coming out and supporting me that I would’ve never expected and I thank you all….Harley Flanagan
Die Cro-Mags haben sich ebenfaölls dazu geäußert und zudem angekündigt, rechtliche Schritte gegen die Beteiligten einzuleiten.
