MILWAUKEE — Pop artist, Lizzo is calling out a security guard at Summerfest for attacking members of her team during her show Thursday night at the Harley Davidson Roadhouse Stage.
It was a night of music that quickly turned ugly.
Lizzo was the headliner at the Harley-Davidson Roadhouse Stage, and the rising star brought in more than 10,000 people.
She was on stage performing while her team was getting video in the photo pit to later share on social media. Stylist, Marko Monroe said that’s when a security guard attacked him.
“He saw I was a big ****ing ****** and proud of it. He had a problem and he just wanted to assert his masculinity on me,” Monroe explained on Instagram. “I was like, ‘no, I work for Lizzo. I’m her stylist’ and then I just completely get manhandled.”
Monroe described that the guard physically and verbally went after him, and then his colleague, Shelby Swain.
“He then like grabs my arm and puts it behind my back,” Monroe said. “And he was like, no little ****, we’re going to take you down.”
“She runs up and this guy like chest bumps her out of the way and then ****ing knocks her phone out,” Monroe said.
He explains the guard then escorted him to what he called a jail cell.
“The thing that really pissed me off is that the guy who manhandled me wanted me to apologize before I could be let out of jail,” Monroe said.
Eventually the tour manager gets him out, but he calls what happened, “homophobic.”
THIS RACIST BIGOT PUT HIS HANDS ON MY PEOPLE AND USED HURTFUL LANGUAGE WHILE TACKLING AND DRAGGING MY TEAM OFF THE FESTIVAL GROUNDS @Summerfest
— |L I Z Z O| (@lizzo) June 28, 2019
IF YOU HAVE FOOTAGE PLEASE SEND ME pic.twitter.com/6zIZV9usTh
Lizzo shared a video of the guard, and tweeted it “was the best show ever,” but that she felt she couldn’t celebrate, saying “racism and bigotry don’t care if you’re a headliner.”
Summerfest officials responded on Twitter by saying that they’re investigating and “strive to protect performers and fans.”
1/2 Lizzo gave an incredible performance which she now feels is tarnished by events which occurred during the performance. We do not tolerate racism in any form. We will conduct a thorough investigation.
— Summerfest (@Summerfest) June 28, 2019
Now those fans are speaking out.
“I think that it’s really sad that it happened at Summerfest,” concertgoer, Tess Schultz Vermilion said.
“When something like that happens it just like brings everyone down,” concertgoer, Emma Schultz-Vermilion added.
“That should never happen especially in an environment like this,” concertgoer, Madison Konzal said.
Lizzo also tweeted that they’ll be filing a complaint against the guard.
TODAY’S TMJ4 reached out to Lizzo’s publicist for a response, but have not heard back at this time.
