Some bars can get rowdy and energetic, especially with the presence of alcohol. Sadly, for one musician from Houston, Texas, a rude and possibly drunken male customer started harassing her in the middle of her performance. Unfazed and unyielding, the female singer stood her ground and even fended off the unruly customer while also singing Village People’s popular hit YMCA and even changing the lyrics to warn off her harasser:
Janelle Write, aka Janelle Walker, is the singer and musician in question. In a recent performance in a duelling piano bar, which took place around late September, Walker encountered a live musician’s worst nightmare, which is a hostile audience member. In the video, you can see a random man, beer bottle in hand, walk up to Walker and press the piano keys, interrupting her performance.
Walker, however, didn’t stop her performance and instead incorporated her clapbacks into the YMCA song, changing its lyrics to “Young man, I will kick your [expletive] out, there’s no need to be an [expletive].” The initial warning didn’t work, and Walker had to keep fending off the rude man with her lyrical improvisation. Thankfully, Walker persevered, and the rude audience member quit harassing her.
“It’s my job to make sure that moments like this don’t ruin my night or other people’s night. The audience was on my side and he left after that song so Mission accomplished,” wrote Walker in her TikTok post. It also appears that this might have been the first time Walker encountered an audience member who harassed her in the middle of her performance. The video has since gone viral, with more than 3.5 million views.
People Online Were Questioning the Lack of Security
While it appears such incidents don’t often happen to Walker during her performances, many people online have suggested that a bar having security personnel would’ve kept the singer safer. People thus began questioning what exactly the deal was with the particular bar and why it let a customer harass the musician they hired.
“A bar w no security is a 🚩🚩” according to a TikTok user in the video’s comment section, alluding to how it’s a red flag for a bar to lack bouncers at the very least. Others also criticized what appeared to be the regular bar patrons, as only one of them actually helped Walker while she was being harassed, “No one around wanted to help her 🤨.”
Regardless, people are unanimously praising Walker for her smooth and stylish vibes against a man who was harassing her. What made it even more impressive was how she neither stuttered nor flinched despite the improvised lyrics, “Love how you still managed to rhyme 😂” mentioned one commenter, with another saying, “She embarrassed him, good 😭.” It also appears one fan liked this singer’s rendition of YMCA better, “I like these lyrics better than the original 😅 idk how you were so calm I got irritated just watching him.”
