"Shut the fuck up...I am security... What are you gonna do?" We arrived to the venue at 1pm. The Florida air was hot and humid, especially on the streets of the busy city of St. Petersburg. But we were buzzing with excitement. With only 20 people in front of us in line, we were stoked to see some of our favorite bands, Jxdn and Beauty School Dropout, live for the first time. It was me, my 19 year old sister, my 16 year old sister, and her 15 year old friend. Going into the venue, we were lucky enough to get barricade toward the right side of the stage. That familiar buzzing feeling you get before a show started filling the growing crowd. It was almost time for the opening band: Beauty School Dropout.
Throughout the BSD set, a security guard (Jack) kept coming up and touching my little sister (16) and grabbing her, leaning into her ear and saying shit even when she was telling him to stop. At one point he grabbed her and whispered in her ear “What will you pay me if I get you a set list?”. He was flirting with her the whole time and making her super uncomfortable. After the BSD set he grabbed her again and that’s when we started telling him how old she was and to stop touching her. Jack started getting in our faces and started yelling things like “shut the fuck up” and “oh what are you gonna do?” along with some other not-so-nice comments. My little sister (16) and her friend (15) were sobbing at this point. We started motioning and yelling for other security to come over and help, which prompted Jack to start yelling "I am security, what are you gonna do?". First the lead singer of Beauty School Dropout came over and we told him what happened, thanks to an amazing photographer who witnessed the incident and decided we needed help. BSD's lead singer made sure everyone on stage knew what was going on. Then the same photographer helped us get security’s attention. When new security (Jayme & others) got there, they pushed Jack back and got in between us and him. Jack started yelling over the security’s shoulder and gesturing at us close to our faces and was out of control. My sister (19) started yelling back at him. The situation escalated even more when Jayme and my sister were yelling at each other. Jayme said my sister was kicked out. Then Jack shoved forward before Jayme could finish and jumped over barricade onto me. He kicked our friend (15) so hard in the side that she has a big bruise. When he jumped onto me, he shoved me to the ground and was standing on me. I’m covered in scrapes and bruises now. He picked up my sister and starting shoving her out. At this point others in the crowd were recording his ridiculous behavior. He carried her backstage and started pushing her out really aggressively and said “this is your fault. you did this. you got yourself kicked out” and kept laughing and taunting her. She kept yelling for him to put her down and she’d walk. He put her down when someone else walked by. Then she was walking and he was pushing her back because she wasn’t walking fast enough. I followed another security to talk to him about what happened and find out where my sister was going. The two (15 & 16) girls stayed in the crowd. When security and I were about midway behind the stage to the exit, Jack came back and started screaming and jabbing his hands in my face and yelling really awful things and cussing again. Security had to get in front of Jack and get him to stop coming close to me and got him out of there. That’s when I saw my sister (16) that Jack was first assaulting being pulled aside backstage by Jayme so she could talk to him. I went to be with her. Jayme explained the situation as did my sister. He assured us that Jack was being handled. We sent my sister back to the crowd and I went with Jayme to get my other sister that was kicked out. He told me he understood the situation and that even though he’s never done this before, he would let her back in because he understood that she was just protecting her little sister. The manager walked by us on our way to the exit and told me that Jack was being sent home and kept saying he’s gone. When we got to the entrance, I found out that the members of Beauty School Dropout had found my sister out front and brought her back in, making sure she was okay. Then I went back to my spot and found my sisters. They were upset but we didn’t let it ruin the show. There was new security there with us. Jxdn came on and we were pulled back into the buzzing aura. After the show, another girl in the crown told us that Jack had been standing toward the back of the crowd the entire rest of the show making out with a random girl and that he didn’t go home. After the show we lined up to meet BSD at the merch stand and Jayme stood with us to make sure Jack didn’t come back because he refused to leave. Jayme explained why he had to kick my sister out and he and my sister both apologized and understood each other. We were by the stairs that go up behind where merch was in line when Jack started coming down the stairs and over to the railing by us. Jayme got another security guard to get him out of there so he could stay with us. When we got toward the front of the line, Jack came from outside the exit where the band was loading their stuff on the buses and came up to us and starting yelling and calling us names and saying really awful things again. He was kicked out of the venue earlier, but had walked around the building and snuck in the open entrance, coming right up to us. At this point both Jayme and the guard that he asked earlier to get rid of Jack were standing with us. Jayme got Mike (his boss) to come over and Mike was able to get Jack to stop yelling and go to the office. All three guards stayed with us throughout the line and were being really great about it and reassuring us that they had our backs. At the end, Jayme clocked out and escorted us to our car to make sure Jack wasn’t waiting for us outside. He gave us his card to make sure we could text/call him if we were ever at a show and were being harassed again. Throughout the whole time, security was under the impression that Jack was gone but he kept coming back to get to us. The next day, I submitted an official report with the venue, Jannus Live, about the incident as Jayme had told me the staff submitted their reports and it would be smart for us to do the same. Megan, with Jannus Live, reached out to me and apologized on behalf of the venue. This is when we found out that Jack had been fired from Jannus Live and he would be banned from the venue for life. The news brought what little comfort it could. But from then on, when I look back at the first time I'd seen Jxdn and Beauty School Dropout live, I'm reminded of the series of unfortunate events that led to lots of tears, anger, and fear for four young girls trying to enjoy live music. An event that was supposed to bring people together and provide a safe space to let go for a little while turned into looking over our shoulders everytime we're in the vicinity of the venue.
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