Yesterday morning, I woke with a text from a friend: “Keytar Bear is at Porter!” I rushed through my morning routine and headed to the Red Line hoping to catch everyone’s favorite mute street performer. But according to a Facebook post, Keytar Bear caught the wrong kind of attention last night, allegedly falling victim to an attempted stabbing and robbery near Faneuil Hall.
A post to the “We Love Keytar Bear” Facebook page expressed concern, saying “Did something happen to you tonight at Faniel? I was walking by around 7pm and saw you speaking to the police….I hope you’re okay!!!”
The post elicited a reply from the Facebook page admin, allegedly Keytar Bear himself, claiming two men and a woman attempted to stab him and stole most of his money, while onlookers stood around and took photos instead of helping.
If true, this is terrible. Keytar Bear is part of a diverse network of Boston street performers that add a brief moment of joy to busy commuters. It is odd, however, that no photos or video have shown up on social media of this latest attack, especially since Keytar Bear claims that people were too busy taping him with iPhones to help him. When I went to the Porter T stop yesterday morning, I had to fight through a throng of six or seven people stopping to take a photo of him performing. A quick search of Instagram and Twitter shows Keytar Bear spent Tuesday morning at Porter, and had people documenting his presence at Faneuil Hall a little after 4:00.
This isn’t to say that the incident didn’t happen — and if any bystanders have footage of the attack, they should contact the proper officials immediately — but when Boston Magazine contacted Keytar Bear for further comment, there appeared to be a discrepancy with his story.
Keytar Bear told Boston [Magazine] that he filed a police report after the most recent alleged assault, but a call to the Boston Police Department revealed that there was no police response to Faneuil Hall on Tuesday.
Coincidentally, Keytar Bear has a show coming up on November 3, but there’s no word yet if it will be cancelled.
One thing is for sure: The unprovoked assault on Keytar Bear back in April definitely happened, despite naysayers initially doubting his story before video of the incident surfaced. In that instance, his attacker even allegedly reached out to event planner Abigail Taylor to apologize anonymously. Taylor was one of the first comments on Keytar Bear’s attack this time as well.
With three alleged assaults suffered in the past year, Keytar Bear seems to have gotten some incredibly rough treatment for no apparent reason. Thankfully, he says this latest incident won’t stop him from performing.
Despite the latest attack, Keytar Bear says he is still going to play. “I’m not upset because I realize God gives us problems in order to make us stronger,” he said, claiming he used his instrument to defend himself.
Rock on, dude.
UPDATE: Two suspects, a male and female, were arrested for allegedly attacking and robbing Keytar Bear after police identified them using video surveillance.
[h/t Universal Hub, Boston Magazine, img. via Instagram]
