A lot of things happen at metal shows that the hypervigilant among us can truly only imagine. This was something that had already generally been accepted, and this news cycle seems hellbent on confirmation bias.
Trivium guitarist Matt Heafy has apologized after fan-shot concert footage has circulated online, showing him asking attendees at the band's recent Ascendancy 20th anniversary show in Boston, MA, to "really light us up with your cellphone lights, your flashlights, your lighters, your fleshlights."
"I'd like to formally apologize for what I said last night on stage," Heafy wrote on the social media platform formerly known as Twitter over the weekend, sharing one of said clips of his plea to the crowd. "I can and will do better."
Everything about the guitarist's delivery — "Fleshlights?! I meant flashlights! I hope someone recorded that!" — and subsequent apology feels designed to contextualize this as an accidental Freudian slip. (Personally, I like to always claim to be funny on purpose.) But please, for the love of god, don't take out your fleshlight at a Trivium show; there's definitely enough deeply unhygienic shit going on in the pit already.