Sombr responded to criticism he received from a concertgoer who apparently “hated” his show at Anthem in Washington, DC, on October 13, to the point that she recorded a nearly nine-minute TikTok video, which has since gone viral.
“I thought I was chronically online, but I realized there’s drama on TikTok because a 25-year-old came to my concert and was basically complaining that there were too many tweens there, that I was making too many brain jokes, and she just thought it was an embarrassing concert,” Sombr began his response.
Sombr’s response came a few days after the fan posted her video, in which the 25-year-old began by warning anyone planning to attend an upcoming show of his to “not waste your money on a Sombr concert.” He went on to explain that while attending his show in Washington, D.C., he was surprised to discover that his fan base was primarily made up of “tweens,” said he didn’t like his jokes, and described a segment of the concert called the “Sombr Dating Show,” where he brought audience members onstage to call out their exes. She also criticized him, alleging that he said “super vulgar things about getting his dick sucked” while on stage, and asked his fans to “bark for me”, behavior she considered inappropriate given his young audience.
He added: “He just doesn’t seem like he knows how to entertain. Maybe he’s too young. Maybe he needs to grow up. I don’t know. Dancing was terrible, singing was terrible.”
While he referred to the experience as “a nightmare”, he admitted that other audience members seemed to love it, with one fan apparently saying: “This is my generation’s David Bowie.” Then he said, “I’m so sorry, thin man? Should we pick him, should we pick the guy who dances funny?” whom he compared to Napoleon Dynamite and added that the spectacle was “shameful.”
In his response, Sombr accused her of “body shaming him,” saying that “it’s like a massive train of body shaming hate started directed at me in a lot of videos of me on the internet right now.”
He went on to say, “I totally respect people who have opinions, but I’m a 20-year-old artist, just turned 20. And if you’re 25 and you’re coming to my concert and you don’t expect there to be people younger than you, when I, the artist, am five years younger than you, it’s just a matter of ability.”
As for his jokes, Sombré said people who attend his concerts would be familiar with his online presence, adding: “I’ve never said a serious word in my life.” In addition, he said that he spends “five minutes” making jokes in his shows, while the rest is music.
“Live a little, enjoy life,” he continued. “Any age, sex, sexuality, gender, race: everyone is welcome to my concert, and I mean everyone. You guys need to find problematic people to hate, because I just exist.”
Sombr’s debut album, I barely know her – with the hits “Back to Friends” and “12 to 12,” both performed at the VMAs, arrived in August. Since his album came out, his tour, which runs through November, has sold out and is scheduled to be the Saturday Night Live musical guest with host Nikki Glaser on November 8.
