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Report: Keytar Bear allegedly attacked and robbed in downtown Boston

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Studio 52 is a community artist space located in the heart of Allston, and is proud to support the Boston music scene and local artist community.


UPDATE 11:16 a.m.: From WCVB Channel 5: “The three New Hampshire teenagers were arrested and charged with assault and battery, affray and disorderly conduct. One suspect was also charged with possession of alcohol when officers recovered a small bottle of vodka.”

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June 17, or “617 Day” has gotten ugly in Boston.

@WelcomeToDot reports that Keytar Bear was allegedly attacked and robbed this afternoon in downtown Boston, in the vicinity of 60 State Street. According to that tweet, via Universal Hub, a crowd of drunk males gathered near Keytar Bear while he was performing, and proceeded to tackle him, damage his amp, and take the money he earned while performing.

Universal Hub has tracked down the woman who took the photo, Jessica Baldwin, who was visiting from Nashville. She says Keytar Bear was slammed into the sidewalk at State and Congress streets by one of the men in the photo, and also had his bear mask ripped off, was punched, and had the cords pulled from his amp. Here’s more:

Then, she said, they took his tips and sauntered across the street, where they stood for awhile taunting the Bear, daring him to come over. “He’s a grown man wearing a bear suit; It just seems un-American and inhumane [to attack him],” Baldwin, up from Nashville on a business trip, said. “Good God!”

Baldwin, who was standing in front of the Old State House with her 10-year-old son, Thompson, rushed across the street to help Keytar Bear, while her mother, a Boston native who now lives in Atlanta, began looking for a cop. Keytar Bear had a good-sized knot above one eye, Baldwin said. But he told her, “I clocked one of them really good.”

Three of the men, described as males in their 20s, have been captured, according to Universal Hub.

Unfortunately, Keytar Bear has been attacked on the street multiple times in the past few years. After the first incident, in which Keytar Bear suffered a broken nose, the City of Cambridge declared May 9, 2014 as “Keytar Bear and Abigail Taylor Day”, commending the street performer for his perseverance and Taylor’s efforts to rally the city around him and get him a new instrument through crowdfunding. In a second attack later that year, he was stabbed with a knife and robbed. In May 2016, he posted a video of him being harassed by a drunk woman in Somerville.

Coincidentally, just yesterday, a GoFundMe was created to buy Keytar Bear a new amp.

There are some tweets stating that he’s back out in the State Street area playing again, so hopefully he’s OK.

Also, let’s take this guy’s advice.

Featured photo from the GoFundMe.