Girl Wrecks Street Performer's Keyboard And Steals His Money In Viral Video
In a viral TikTok, a pianist was busking on the sidewalk in Athens, GA. A girl came up to his keyboard twice to interrupt his music, and the second time she knocks over his whole instrument and steals money from his tip jar. The video was viewed so many times that Charlie Puth even reached out to the performer.
The city of Athens, GA is home to the University of Georgia, and it's known to be a party town. On any given night, you can see a plethora of drunk college students roaming the streets and sometimes being rowdy. You can also see many street performers who lighten up the town with their original music as people walk by. On Monday, a TikToker named Andrew Hsu shared a video of "one of the worst things" someone has ever done to him while he's busking. A girl randomly walks by, bangs his piano as he's playing music for an engaged crowd, only to come back later and knock his whole keyboard down and steal his money.
Girl Wrecks Street Performer's Keyboard and Steals His Money in Viral Video
In the first part of the video, you can see a group of people gathering around Andrew's keyboard to enjoy the music he's playing. Young men and women alike are enraptured by his talents and some are even filming his playing. The girl walks up to the keyboard, shoves her way between two other girls who are listening enthusiastically, and slams her hand down on it to make discordant noises and intentionally disrupt his music. The girls say, "No! Stop!" and tell her to go away so they can continue enjoying his music. Andrew said in his TikTok that this kind of stuff happens here and there, but then things got worse.
During the last song of the night, the girl comes back, this time followed by a group of her rowdy friends. She feels even bolder this time, so she walks up to Andrew's keyboard and slams down on the keys as hard as she can, knocking the whole piano down on the ground. Andrew simply throws his hands in the air and looks at her. Her friends are seen laughing in the background as if it's the funniest thing they've ever seen. Then the girl bends down as if she's going to help him retrieve his things off the ground, but instead she steals money out of the jar into which people were putting tips all evening.
Many people are booing the girl in the background and yelling things like, "You suck!" Andrew is seen standing there in disbelief and her friend turns to him and threatens, "Do you want to hit about it?!" Andrew replies, "Why would I want to hit about it?"
A few people come by to help Andrew pick up his keyboard, and one guy even empties out the contents of his wallet to try and make up for the disrespect that just took place.
"I do this to see people happy, so please don't harass the person in this video," Andrew said in the video.
The TikTok has gone viral and reached over 3 million views. It got so popular that even Charlie Puth commented on someone's video asking if he could get in touch with Andrew.
Millions of people have been outraged by the girl's actions and her complete lack of remorse. But she has been identified. Her name is Shauntae Heard and she was arrested in November 2022 for "theft of lost/mislaid property," a misdemeanor, and two felonies of financial transaction card fraud.
On Facebook, Shauntae wrote a "public service announcement" to take accountability for her actions. She said she apologized to Andrew already. "Everything is good no I didn't steal any money, and I didn't break the piano I'm a human just like you all [sic]," she wrote. Since when does being a human excuse people to do terrible things to innocent street performers? But instead of fully apologizing, she deflected and said, "I've seen worse downtown this is nothing compared to what I did."
Shauntae and Andrew privately messaged each other, and it seemed as though Shauntae was upset about the fact that people were saying unsavory things about her online. "Hey, I accept your apology," Andrew wrote back to her. "I told people not to harass you, but I can't control what happens so that was my way of trying not to have people come at you. However, you have to know that actions have consequences, and while I feel bad that people are harassing you, you've got to own up to your actions." He also said that he wasn't mad when she came up to bang on his keyboard the first time. "But the second time was pretty messed up," he said.
People online are still furious about her lack of remorse and her attempt to deflect responsibility. This incident has also reminded many people about the black-on-Asian crime that has been starkly on the rise in recent years. Shauntae saw an Asian man performing a mix of classical music and pop on the piano in Athens, and her reaction was to damage his keyboard and steal his money. It's not clear whether this was racially motivated, but many people can't help but point to all the similar assaults and attacks that have taken place in cities all over the United States, and it just happens to be a black person attacking an Asian person.
Andrew has been met with an outpouring of support, and @thatdaneshguy shared Andrew's Venmo profile with his followers so they could donate if they feel so inclined. @thatdaneshguy also identified the Good Samaritan at the end of the video who helped Andrew with his keyboard and gave him the money in his wallet. At least it's nice to know there are some good people in the world.
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