You Maybe Should Or Should Not Hate Pete Wentz, Depending On Whether He's Your Best Friend Or Your Romantic Rival

[image courtesy stereogum]

Alternate post title: "This Ain't A Scene, It's An Arms Race". Second alternate post title: "Sugar, We're Goin Down".

[Actually, the real title of this post would make a great Fall Out Boy song title...Pete -- call us!!! -- Ed.]

So, didya happen to catch Fall Out Boy's performance at Chicago's Schubas Theatre the other night???

Initial reports after the show were that FOB bassist-and-lyricist-and-Ashlee-Simpson-uhhhhhh-"dater" Pete Wentz went all medieval-and-shit on a "fan" who heckled Pete about Ashlee Simpson or his guyliner or his punny songtitles or something. The above is supposedly a picture of the aftermath of Pete attacking said heckler with a beer bottle.

The scene -- sadly, not Pete's first concert-inflicting beatdown -- is quite adequite, doncha think???

Well, not surprisingly, Pete took to the media the next day to tell his side of the story:

"The story on the Internet is absolutely false," he wrote in an e-mail. "Yes, we were playing an acoustic afterparty for Spin. It was a good time for the most part. Yes, the guy was heckling me and the band, so were other people, most in good fun. But we get heckled onstage all the time, and while I'm a jerk, I'm not the kind of person who would ever lash out at someone simply over this...

"The truth is on the way out the door I had to pass directly next to the guy and I knew it, so I kept my head down and walked out. As I did, the guy reached out and grabbed me and said something I couldn't really hear — it was a glorious use of the English language, though," he continued. "As he grabbed me, I punched him. Yell all you want at me, say whatever, but in a situation like that I will defend myself. After that, of course, it got chaotic, [but] we have several independent witnesses that gave statements saying he grabbed me first ... I am not worried over the outcome, as I was clearly in the right. Anything anyone else is saying or writing is simply not true."

Pete Wentz Offers His Side Of The Fall Out [MTV, via stereogum]

[ah, Stereogum, you guys are SO CLEVER with your post titles -- Ed.]

[i.e., "Don't You Know Who I Think I Am" -- Ed.]

Okay, so there's a he-said-he-said thing going on here. I'm sure I know whose side FOB-singer-and-trucker-hat-and-mutton-chop-model Patrick Stump is on [actually, even though Patrick can't seem to figure out why so many people seem to dislike Pete, that link points to a very interesting interview with Patrick...seriously -- Ed.].

I can't take sides here -- in fact, Our Lawyer Made Us Change the Name Of This Post So We Wouldn't Get Sued. So all of this is really prelude to...

...my Video Of The Day:


[video courtesy craigshimala.com via stereogum]

[actually, we're kinda digging FOB's cover of "Beat It". Also, the video clearly shows about a half dozen other fans vid'ding the show -- where are those vids??? -- Ed.]

Supposedly, this camera-phone video was taken by the very-same beat-down victim who left his blood on the dance floor in the photo above.

So, he got film of this, but not of his own celebrity beat down??? So, what do you think -- Sophmore Slump Or Comeback Of The Year???

Leave your thoughts in the comments.

P.S. "Craig" -- Fame < Infamy.

[Ed. note: we at DHMBIB are not FOB or Pete Wentz haters. and if you don't believe us, stay tuned over the next few weeks, as we'll be writing about the best CDs of the first half of '07 [*cough*]Infinity On High[*cough*]]