Alien Ant Farm singer Dryden Mitchell has been charged with battery after purportedly placing a male fan’s hand onto the crotch of his pants during an October performance in Fort Lauderdale, Florida.
The incident in question involved a male fan in the crowd raising his hand in the air, resulting in Mitchell allegedly taking the fan’s hand and placing it on his own groin, according to a report by Daily Mail.
The moment was also captured on video, which is now reportedly being used as a key piece of evidence against the 46-year-old singer from California.
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The male fan, a 45-year-old man from Miami who has not been named, told Daily Mail that he filed a report with the Fort Lauderdale Police Department two weeks after the incident.
“I do want to tell my story but I do have to listen to my civil lawyers,” the man told the outlet, adding, “I’ll be more than happy to speak later. I do want the story out there because what happened was not right.”
The man also said that he has no idea why the Alien Ant Farm singer would have taken such an action while performing at the Broward Center for the Performing Arts on October 29, 2022.
The Broward State Attorney’s Office filed a first-degree misdemeanor charge — punishable by up to a year in jail — against Mitchell on December 30, Daily Mail reported.
The fan “said he had his fist in the air and was trying to get a picture with Mitchell,” police wrote.
“[He] advised that Mitchell grabbed his fist while it was in the air and pulled the fist into his private area (genital area) against his pants. [He] stated he immediately pulled his hand away at that point,” police added.
The fan also told police that he reported the incident over two weeks later. It “was not sitting well with him,” despite some time passing.
“[He] did not feel this was proper behavior to do in front of all the concertgoers and also stated there were kids in the crowd as well,” police wrote. “[The fan] advised he wanted to report the incident to police.”
Alien Ant Farm is a one-hit-wonder rock band that is perhaps best known for its 2001 remake of Michael Jackson’s hit song, “Smooth Criminal,” which went to No. 1 on the U.S. Modern Rock charts, No. 1 single in Australia and New Zealand, and No. 3 single in the UK.
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This is not the first time a member of Alien Ant Farm has been accused of battery by a fan.
In 2016, the band’s guitarist Terry Corso reportedly assaulted a fan during a performance in England after the fan threw liquid at him. Corso later explained that he thought the liquid was urine, because Mitchell had been doused with urine at a concert just two days prior.
So the guitarist jumped into the crowd and punched the fan. It was later discovered that the liquid was not urine, and Corso was eventually fined and given a 12-month conditional discharge — similar to a year of probation in the United States.
You can follow Alana Mastrangelo on Facebook and Twitter at @ARmastrangelo, and on Instagram.
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