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Simon O\u2019Connor, who has played guitar in Modest Mouse<\/a> since 2021, has apologized to a young fan for sending inappropriate messages on Instagram, including a sexually explicit meme. O\u2019Connor wrote<\/a> on the Modest Mouse subreddit, where the original allegations<\/a> were posted, that he mistook the fan for a troll with a history of \u201cmessing with\u201d him from fake accounts.<\/p>\n The fan who posted the allegations says they were 16 at the time of the interaction and had their date of birth in their Instagram bio. O\u2019Connor opened a direct-message conversation with a sticker that read \u201cSimon calls your bluff, BUZZZ.\u201d He portrays the message as a mistaken \u201cgotcha\u201d to show the fan, who had liked several of his posts, that he had identified them as the troll. He then sent a graphic meme of a naked man\u2014censored in the Redditor\u2019s post, but allegedly not in the original message\u2014and viewed the Redditor\u2019s Instagram story counting down to their 17th birthday, before messaging the word \u201csorry.\u201d<\/p>\n The fan responded that they assumed he had been hacked. O\u2019Connor responded, \u201cWish I was hacked just had a party night and looking at everything with one eye ya know.\u201d According to a screenshot in the post, he later wrote to the fan, \u201cYou did blindside me with a gaggle of likes and then very little intro besides bikini pics so we are both to blame.\u201d That message was deleted, and he ended the conversation, \u201cI did it again.\u201d<\/p>\n In his apology, O\u2019Connor presents the interaction as a deliberate provocation of the misidentified person, followed by a swift backtrack. \u201cAfter a few minutes, I realized that I had made a mistake and this was not the person who I had dealt with before,\u201d he wrote. \u201cI unsent the messages and immediately ceased communication. I\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<\/p>\n Pitchfork has emailed Modest Mouse\u2019s representatives for comment.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n