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A stage crasher tried to kiss Alvvays’ Molly Rankin, and it’s not okay

[Photo by: Alvvays/Facebook]

Stage crashers are not new to music by any means—and neither is sexism both on and off stage. On Saturday, one fan took things too far at Alvvays’ show in Antwerp, Belgium, crashing the stage and attempting to kiss vocalist/guitarist Molly Rankin.

Read more: Op-Ed: We’re not listening to women in music—and that’s a huge problem

Alvvays are currently on tour with support from Jay Som, Nap Eyes, and ALASKALASKA. Following the performance, the venue, Trix Antwerp, released a statement regarding the inappropriate act that took place:

This weekend a man got on stage during the Alvvays show at Trix and harassed the band’s singer. Trix regrets this happened on our stage. It is incredible and saddening that we should still spell this out in 2017, but here goes: it is in no way, shape or form acceptable to harass women on or off stage. Rock shows belong to everybody and you should respect people’s integrity. Being very drunk and slightly enamoured with a musician somehow doesn’t magically make this kind of behaviour alright. This not “just a bit of fun”. This is beyond annoying. And you need to do better. We apologise to the band and audience that this happened on our watch. This was not ok.

The incident is one that is sadly all to common for bands and fans alike. Architects frontman Sam Carter calling out a sexual assault at a show proves that music still has a problem on its hands, regardless of genre. Frank Carter has taken to introducing female-only crowdsurfing at his shows to protect women from being groped. Circa Survive’s Brendan Ekstrom halted a show because of sexual harassment in the crowd.

Like the venue's statement explains: It's 2017—there's no reason we should still have this problem of harassing women on or off stage.

And with events like this, it’s clear that something needs to change. We recently spoke to 14 female musicians, including Creeper’s Hannah Greenwood and Best Ex’s Mariel Loveland, and asked for their thoughts on sexism in the music industry and what they believe needs to change to make gigs a safer place for everyone.

What are your thoughts on the situation—and what needs to change so it won't happen again? Let us know in the comments below.

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