Social Distortion's Mike Ness has made no secret of his distaste for US President Donald Trump. It seems that if you paid money to go to a Social Distortion show, it would be reasonably to assume the band would discuss their politics on stage, and in this case, trash Trump.
But somehow a California fan, Tim Hildebrand, was shocked that the frontman of a band named Social Distortion would take the time during their show to get political. During Social Distortion's July 17th show at Sacramento’s Ace of Spades, Hildebrand thought the best course of action would be a silent protest in the form of raising his middle finger at the punk veteran, something that Ness took none too kindly too.
Footage shows Ness motioning to Hildebrand to come toward the stage in a "say it to my face" kind of motion. Eventually, Ness takes off his guitar, hops down and starts punching Hildebrand.
Here is the footage:
Hildebrand was escorted out of the show and filed a police report with officials outside the venue. “I pretty much said I paid for your music, not your politics,” Hildebrand told CBS-13. He plans to press charges saying “I stood pretty much with my silent protest with my middle finger up for the next two songs.”
While some might label what Ness did as "punk rock," unless this dude was straight up seig-heiling, it's hard to side with Mike on this one.
