Fall Out Boy Bassist Punches Audience Member

06/13/07 6:00pm

by Lindsay Craig (CHARTattack)

Fall Out Boy's Pete Wentz threw a punch at a heckling audience member early on Tuesday morning after a performance at an exclusive party sponsored by Spin magazine in Chicago.

Fall Out Boy played at Charter One Pavilion earlier in the night and stopped by the Spin party at Schuba's afterward for a short acoustic performance for about 200 people. In between songs, a patron is said to have called Wentz a sellout and insulted his clothes and relationship with Ashlee Simpson. The bassist apparently laughed and responded with a few good-natured comebacks.

The show continued and the band finished their set with "Sugar We're Going Down." As he headed offstage, Wentz was allegedly grabbed by the heckler. He punched the man before Fall Out Boy's bodyguards took over as the band left the club.

"From my vantage point, I could see Fall Out Boy security was pounding on the guy," an anonymous witness told MTV.com. "The guy was down on floor, shirt ripped, bleeding from ear and nose."

Wentz admitted to MTV.com that he hit the heckler, but he didn't seem overly concerned.

"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."

"Shards of glass, blood, at least one visibly injured man and a confused mob" remained afterward, according to Spin.com. Police broke up the rowdy crowd, but haven't released any information on whether charges will be filed. This is Wentz's second scrap this year. In January he got into a fight with security at a Fall Out Boy show in Albuquerque, New Mexico.