Sacked Modest Mouse guitarist explains away 'inappropriate messages'

Modest Mouse's Simon O'Connor has explained how he came to be accused of sending inappropriate messages to an underage fan.

The guitarist was kicked off the band's upcoming tour last week after the allegations came to light.

The young fan, who recently turned 17, went public after O'Connor sent strange messages including a meme of a naked man.

O'Connor responded to the allegations with a Reddit post of his own.

"Hey, Simon here. I would just like to address some of the conversation on this thread that has come to my attention," he 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."

He went on to explain that an unknown person had been "messing" with him, allegedly creating multiple social media accounts to send messages, then deleting them.

"After a long night, I picked my phone up to discover that a similar profile had been interacting with some of my Instagram posts and stories," he penned.

"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.

"I'm genuinely sorry to the person who received those messages," O'Connor concluded. "They didn't deserve to be put in that position, and I'm sorry for the stress and attention this has brought them."

On Friday, Modest Mouse announced that O'Connor, who has played with the band since 2021, would not be joining them on their upcoming tour.

"The 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," they wrote on Instagram.

The rock band's tour kicks off on 4 August in Ojai, California.