Matisyahu Apologises After Calling Fan's Child 'Ugly As Fuck' Over Negative Review

American musician Matisyahu is in damage control after labelling a fan's infant child "ugly as fuck" during a messy stoush over a negative review, which has ended with the acclaimed singer-songwriter ultimately apologising for his behaviour.

The saga began at the weekend with a relatively innocuous comment from Texas-based punter Katie Loo Pennington, who made a public post on her personal Facebook page criticising Matisyahu's performance in Houston, as well as the fact that he had addressed the audience as "Dallas".  

As takedowns go, it was honestly pretty tame, but Pennington made the bold choice to tag in the performer, who clearly saw the comment and then unleashed a tirade of his own, telling the fan, "The same reason it was the worst for you is why it was the best for me", repeating the "Dallas" jibe, and implicitly slagging gig-mates Dirty Heads for good measure.

"I'm not here to entertain you," he wrote, demonstrating a profound misunderstanding of his job description. "I put my soul into what I do. Not everyone is capable of receiving the truth. Peace out Dallas. 

"If you enjoyed dirty heads set it makes sense that you wouldn't have any clue as to what it is I'm doing up there. Creating in the moment real art not entertaining or regurgitating. Dumb people usually don't get it. It seems the Cornier your music is the more people like it. That's cause most people are dumb unfortunately."

Consequently, other people started to join in the fray, leading Matisyahu to double down — "I don't have a problem with dumb people but if you're [too] stupid to get it the very least you could do is keep your negativity to yourself," he followed up — while Pennington asserted herself: "Don't blame me if you can't take an honest review," she said. "I've been a huge fan forever. Whatever is going [on] I hope you find peace soon!"

You'd think that'd be the end of it, right? Well, you'd be wrong, because Matisyahu wasn't done — he then got aggressive about how hard touring musicians have it ("You don't have the first fucking clue what my life is like," he told her) and then, apropos nothing at all, came the clincher:

Which, at last, brings us to this morning. In a lengthy explanation/excuse (depending on your viewpoint) posted to Facebook, Matisyahu did ultimately apologise to Pennington — not by name, and not to her child — but has nonetheless attracted renewed criticism for evidently couching it in defensiveness and other justifications. 

"Where to start? Such a mixture of opinions flying around at at me right now," Matisyahu wrote in his note. "Let me just say that I don't have someone running my social media. Every night after my show I go back to my room on the bus and read messages and comments at the end of the night. I'm three months sober and work very hard at it being on a reggae tour and all that. I touch reality and try not run from it.

"The reason I read messages is because almost every night there is someone who is sick or hurting and finds comfort in my music and usually I interact with them through words or even invite them backstage to meet and talk. It also means I come across a lot of hate, critique, and opinionated people who find it useful to let me know how shitty they think my music is, or why have I 'changed my look' or how could I do this or that."

"I know I could go out there every night and play the hits and just do what I think people want but when opening up and playing a 30 min set I have to choose," he continued. "I choose to explore and find a meaningful unique experience in the music and hope that people will connect with it rather then [sic] fake it through playing songs that I don't enjoy playing.

"To the lady I insulted last night I'm sorry. I got angry and defensive and yes your comments hurt and yes I read all your comments because at the end of the day I feel it's more important to connect with the people who actually have some purpose or need to be listened to. 

"From now on I will try my best not to respond to negative comments. Fire away! I will keep making the music that I feel is important and if you don't like it and feel the need to tell me then I accept it all with a broken heart and it will feed the emotion in my music. Have a lovely day. Houston we have landed."

Pennington has since responded to Matisyahu's post, wishing him the best and asking her friends and well-wishers to ease up on the musician, as he "is obviously going through a lot".

"I do ask for no more attacks or foul words … I used to be a fan from the beginning his lyrics were so inspiring," she wrote. "Now I can only see him as a sham. That is my honest opinion. Take it as you must, but I am washing my hands."

Read Matisyahu's full statement below, and get sucked into the rabbit hole of events if you dare.