Modest Mouse guitarist Simon O'Connor has been accused of sending inappropriate Instagram messages to a minor after screenshots of an alleged conversation were shared on Reddit over the weekend. O'Connor has since responded to the allegations, saying the messages were the result of a case of mistaken identity and that he believed he was messaging someone else.

The allegations surfaced on Reddit after a Modest Mouse fan shared screenshots in r/ModestMouse, claiming the interaction occurred when she was 16 years old. According to the screenshots, O'Connor initiated the conversation by sending an image of the Simon electronic game with the caption, "SIMON calls your bluff BUZZ," before later apologizing.

The fan replied that she assumed his account had been hacked, to which O'Connor responded, "Wish I was hacked just had a party night and looking at everything with one eye ya know."

After the fan replied, "ohh boy get a good night of sleep," the conversation continued. According to the accuser, O'Connor then sent a message referencing her "bikini pics," which she says he quickly deleted before following up with, "I did it again."

The fan wrote:

“for context i am currently 17 years old but this happened right before my birthday, so i was still 16. i have a public instagram but its very niche, ive been following bands i like for a while so i have been following simon for a few years. late at night i checked stories and i spam liked whatever it was simon had put on his story. he came into my DMs and sent me an erotic image (to say the least) while giving me the excuse he had been partying or whatever, continuing to message me. my age is the first thing in my bio. i reached out to several people within the indie music fandom and nobody with a platform cared. i think more people should know about this. im hesitant to put screenshots here but i do have them!”

The post quickly gained traction within the subreddit, with moderators pinning it, saying they believed the discussion was too significant to be buried.

O'Connor later posted a response on Reddit addressing the allegations. He wrote that he "unequivocally oppose[s] any sexual behavior towards minors" and explained that he believed the Instagram account belonged to someone who had repeatedly created accounts to harass him online. According to O'Connor, after a night of partying, he mistakenly reached out to what he believed was that individual before realizing he had contacted the wrong person. He says he unsent the messages, ended the conversation immediately, and apologized to the recipient.

O'Connor's full statement:

"Throughout my adult life, there has been a person who has popped up from time to time with the intention of, for lack of a better term, messing with me. This person creates multiple social media accounts and deletes them… but always posts similar photos that I often recognize from previous accounts. After a long night, I picked my phone up to discover that a similar profile had been interacting (“likes” to be specific) with some of my instagram posts and stories. I assumed that this was the same person I had dealt with before and, with poor judgement, I decided to reach out with a tasteless meme, a sticker that read “Simon calls your bluff,” and an attempt to indicate that I recognized the “barrage of likes” and similar photo content from the previous profiles…. Almost a “gotcha.” After a few minutes, I realized that I had made a mistake and this was not the person who I had dealt with before. I unsent the messages and immediately ceased communication. I'm genuinely sorry to the person who received those messages. They didn't deserve to be put in that position, and I'm sorry for the stress and attention this has brought them. I know some people will choose not to believe me, and I understand that. I can't change what's happened. All I can do is tell the truth, take responsibility for my mistake, and apologize."

Some commenters on the Reddit thread questioned aspects of O'Connor's explanation, including why he referenced bikini photos in the conversation.

As of this writing, Modest Mouse has not issued a public statement regarding the allegations.