DJ Micky Friedmann Attacked By Offer Nissim In Madrid!
Jul 14, 2014 2:57:26 GMT -5
Post by JOJO SIWA DERANGEMENT SYNDROME on Jul 14, 2014 2:57:26 GMT -5
DJ MICKY FRIEDMANN ENDS RUMORS REGARDING ATTACK FROM DJ OFFER NISSIM
OFFICIAL STATEMENT FROM MICKY FRIEDMANN
REGARDING ATTACK BY OFFER NISSIM AT FABRIK NIGHTCLUB MADRID, JULY 5, 2014
Dear Reader,
Just a week ago, a series of shocking events unfolded wherein I was attacked by a fellow DJ colleague who I felt I had always been on good terms with – Offer Nissim. The incident took place in the DJ booth of Fabrik nightclub during my set at the main event of Madrid Pride. What transpired is so shocking that had it not happened to me, I would not believe this story.
I have sat in silence this past week pondering how to react to the incident, and during this time I have watched and heard stories, rumors and pictures populate Facebook and social media as the story spreads from the many that witnessed the incidents and those that only saw portions of the entire event. We all know that the problem with the rumor mill is that details get changed or exaggerated and the story morphs creatively each time it is told.
Any of my peers or colleagues know that I am a mild-mannered and calm individual, and normally would not want to bring further attention to anyone’s unpleasant circumstance or partake in gossip and sensationalism.
But this time I feel different. Not because it was done to me, but because as I sit back and watch the rumors, pictures and comments spread; I see the story growing - and as I am constantly being contacted by friends and fans asking me directly for the details of what happened, I feel that staying silent is not the right thing to do. Rather it is more important to release the actual account of what happened so that the rumors and conjecture can stop and be replaced with the real story straight from the source.
Crazily, most of the rumors you may have heard are actually true.
From the day I was booked for this event I knew that something was going to go wrong with the set time. In the past, quite a few of my colleagues who have had to play a set after Offer Nissim were forced to wait and lose their time as Offer habitually refuses to end his set when scheduled. In fact, both of the DJ’s that played after Offer in this event for the past two years have had their sets cut short because of Offer’s unwillingness to respect the promoter’s, the audience’s and the other DJ’s set time schedule and each year have had their sets shortened dramatically. Just last year another respected colleague and my friend, DJ Abel, found himself sitting behind Offer for over an hour of his scheduled time while Offer refused to leave the stage, and Abel ended up flying all the way to Madrid to play for under an hour.
My original scheduled set time was to be 5:30 – 7:30 am, the closing 2 hours of the event. It’s not unusual at such a large event, hosting over 7000 guests, for things to get pushed a bit later. Offer’s “pre-arranged” 3 hour set had been pushed from starting at 2:30 to start at 3:00, meaning he would now be ending his set at 6 and already shortening my set from 2 hours to an hour and a half.
As customary, I proceeded to the DJ booth just a bit before my start time, even knowing based on the above that I would never start on time and it was just a question of how far into my set time Offer would go on playing his set.
I was accompanied by one of the promoters, Cristian Drak, and my friends and DJ peers GSP, Noor Al, Ana Paula and Mauricio Ortiz – all of whom are able to give first hand accounts of what transpired below.
Despite the best attempts of the promoters and club staff, no one was able to get Offer to end his set, no matter how often he was asked to stop. “Offer is really feeling it, the vibe is great, he wants to go another hour,” said Offer’s booth companion (represented to us as either Offer’s manager, boyfriend, or both). Huge arguments and loud voices were heard coming from the booth as everyone tried to reason with Offer that his set was up and it was time for the next DJ to start.
During this time I distanced myself from the arguments and the booth and stood patiently on the side waiting for a signal from Cristian to get ready. I know how Offer likes to end his sets and that only after his finish and applause is the next DJ allowed to approach the players.
At about 50 minutes into my set (almost an hour into ‘overtime’), Offer gave me a sign with his hand to come up and get ready. I calmly walked to the decks and plugged my USB drives of music into the players and studied the mixer to determine what channels were active so that I would be ready when Offer’s last song ended.
Suddenly the ‘boyfriend/manager’ grabbed my arm, strongly pulling me away from the decks and growled at me “let her finish!” Surprised of the action and the tone of voice, I pulled my arm out of his firm grip and replied (in Hebrew) “Please let go of my arm, I need to get ready.”
Offer finished his set, the song ended, I politely clapped for him and then started my set as they departed the booth.
Ten minutes into my set, as I’m concentrated and focused on mixing and doing what I can with the short amount of time I have left (with now only 45 minutes until the closing of the party), I see movement coming towards me out of the corner of my eye. As I turned around I am surprised to see that it is Offer and the boyfriend/manager storming towards me. Offer is approaching rapidly, and as he gets close he begins hitting me, kicking me, slapping me with his giant red fan, and pulling at my earphones while cursing and screaming at me in Hebrew while the boyfriend/manager was punching and kicking at me from behind at my ribs.
All of this happened directly in front of the shocked dancers, the people on stage, and 7000 people in the club – most not realizing anything was happening as it all happened so quickly.
My two friends rushed towards me and literally pulled Offer off of me and tried to get them out of the booth. I was trying to fathom what was occurring and just wanted the drama out of the booth and be able to return to focusing on the mixer and what was happening with the song that was playing. As I stepped back towards the booth, I realized that my earphones had still been plugged into the mixer when the altercation started, and as I had been pulled away from the decks, the cable had pulled the mixer and all 4 CDJ decks with me. I remember thinking “please god help me that my headphones are not destroyed” so that I could continue playing.
Still in shock, I approached the table to look down and see that the mixer appeared to be completely missing; only the 4 CDJ decks were there. The music was still playing, so I looked around quickly and saw that the mixer had fallen off the table and was hanging just off the floor by a cable barely holding it, with other cables dangling and unplugged. I carefully pulled it back up to the table and connected the unplugged cables. I noticed that two of the decks were no longer functioning, and quickly replaced the USB drives in them so that I could continue playing. With a club full of people, in the height of the closing hour, all I could try to do was not think about what happened and focus on closing the party.
At the moment I pulled up the mixer, a cable came loose and the music in the room cut off and of course everyone in the club turned towards the stage. Luckily a gogo dancer turned and saw the cable that was hanging and pointed it out to me, I grabbed it and plugged it back into the mixer’s output and the sound resumed in the room.
I wish the story ended here, but after approximately 20 more minutes, I feel a tap on my shoulder and turn just in time to catch a punch in the face from Offer’s boyfriend/manager as the bouncer watched and then pulled him away from me. We can only guess that the boyfriend told the bouncer he needed something or wanted to talk to me as a method to get himself back into the booth. Finally he was removed again and shortly after I received word that Offer and the boyfriend had been removed from the club. My left eye was constantly tearing and stinging from the attack, and I finished my set hoping that my eye was not injured seriously.
In the end, I played for under an hour, most of that time under attack or recovering from it, while a handful of people watched incredulously and the rest of the club danced away oblivious to the events unfolding in the DJ booth.
Why I was attacked is still a mystery to me. I wish I knew the reason for this anger and violence during a celebration of Gay Pride at a such a monumental event. I’ve never seen such brutal behavior or violence from anyone, let alone an ‘artist’ such as Offer Nissim or a member of our community. I cannot imagine anything that could justify such violent and disrespectful behavior from anyone, no matter your resume. Assaulting and injuring a colleague in front of 7000 ‘fans’ is unexplainable.
But as I’ve sat here this past week wondering how to handle the situation, what is also disconcerting and unexplainable to me is that there has been no contact from Offer or his camp, no apology, direct or indirect, no remorse, as if they want to pretend it never happened. This speaks even further volumes to me about the character I am dealing with.
This is the accurate account of what occurred this fateful night at Madrid Gay Pride and I release this information to the public simply so that I can put this drama behind me, end the rumors and questioning, and move on in my professional career - spinning the music I love to the people who enjoy it – and with the hopes that those of you that receive this information can act appropriately on it.
With respect to my fans, friends, and colleagues,
Micky Friedmann
Source
This is so random, bizarre, and uncalled for. The whole "I'm a legend so therefore I can go on longer and they need to deal" sense of entitlement is so stupid. How would they feel if someone else went on longer and it forced them to cut their set short?
OFFICIAL STATEMENT FROM MICKY FRIEDMANN
REGARDING ATTACK BY OFFER NISSIM AT FABRIK NIGHTCLUB MADRID, JULY 5, 2014
Dear Reader,
Just a week ago, a series of shocking events unfolded wherein I was attacked by a fellow DJ colleague who I felt I had always been on good terms with – Offer Nissim. The incident took place in the DJ booth of Fabrik nightclub during my set at the main event of Madrid Pride. What transpired is so shocking that had it not happened to me, I would not believe this story.
I have sat in silence this past week pondering how to react to the incident, and during this time I have watched and heard stories, rumors and pictures populate Facebook and social media as the story spreads from the many that witnessed the incidents and those that only saw portions of the entire event. We all know that the problem with the rumor mill is that details get changed or exaggerated and the story morphs creatively each time it is told.
Any of my peers or colleagues know that I am a mild-mannered and calm individual, and normally would not want to bring further attention to anyone’s unpleasant circumstance or partake in gossip and sensationalism.
But this time I feel different. Not because it was done to me, but because as I sit back and watch the rumors, pictures and comments spread; I see the story growing - and as I am constantly being contacted by friends and fans asking me directly for the details of what happened, I feel that staying silent is not the right thing to do. Rather it is more important to release the actual account of what happened so that the rumors and conjecture can stop and be replaced with the real story straight from the source.
Crazily, most of the rumors you may have heard are actually true.
From the day I was booked for this event I knew that something was going to go wrong with the set time. In the past, quite a few of my colleagues who have had to play a set after Offer Nissim were forced to wait and lose their time as Offer habitually refuses to end his set when scheduled. In fact, both of the DJ’s that played after Offer in this event for the past two years have had their sets cut short because of Offer’s unwillingness to respect the promoter’s, the audience’s and the other DJ’s set time schedule and each year have had their sets shortened dramatically. Just last year another respected colleague and my friend, DJ Abel, found himself sitting behind Offer for over an hour of his scheduled time while Offer refused to leave the stage, and Abel ended up flying all the way to Madrid to play for under an hour.
My original scheduled set time was to be 5:30 – 7:30 am, the closing 2 hours of the event. It’s not unusual at such a large event, hosting over 7000 guests, for things to get pushed a bit later. Offer’s “pre-arranged” 3 hour set had been pushed from starting at 2:30 to start at 3:00, meaning he would now be ending his set at 6 and already shortening my set from 2 hours to an hour and a half.
As customary, I proceeded to the DJ booth just a bit before my start time, even knowing based on the above that I would never start on time and it was just a question of how far into my set time Offer would go on playing his set.
I was accompanied by one of the promoters, Cristian Drak, and my friends and DJ peers GSP, Noor Al, Ana Paula and Mauricio Ortiz – all of whom are able to give first hand accounts of what transpired below.
Despite the best attempts of the promoters and club staff, no one was able to get Offer to end his set, no matter how often he was asked to stop. “Offer is really feeling it, the vibe is great, he wants to go another hour,” said Offer’s booth companion (represented to us as either Offer’s manager, boyfriend, or both). Huge arguments and loud voices were heard coming from the booth as everyone tried to reason with Offer that his set was up and it was time for the next DJ to start.
During this time I distanced myself from the arguments and the booth and stood patiently on the side waiting for a signal from Cristian to get ready. I know how Offer likes to end his sets and that only after his finish and applause is the next DJ allowed to approach the players.
At about 50 minutes into my set (almost an hour into ‘overtime’), Offer gave me a sign with his hand to come up and get ready. I calmly walked to the decks and plugged my USB drives of music into the players and studied the mixer to determine what channels were active so that I would be ready when Offer’s last song ended.
Suddenly the ‘boyfriend/manager’ grabbed my arm, strongly pulling me away from the decks and growled at me “let her finish!” Surprised of the action and the tone of voice, I pulled my arm out of his firm grip and replied (in Hebrew) “Please let go of my arm, I need to get ready.”
Offer finished his set, the song ended, I politely clapped for him and then started my set as they departed the booth.
Ten minutes into my set, as I’m concentrated and focused on mixing and doing what I can with the short amount of time I have left (with now only 45 minutes until the closing of the party), I see movement coming towards me out of the corner of my eye. As I turned around I am surprised to see that it is Offer and the boyfriend/manager storming towards me. Offer is approaching rapidly, and as he gets close he begins hitting me, kicking me, slapping me with his giant red fan, and pulling at my earphones while cursing and screaming at me in Hebrew while the boyfriend/manager was punching and kicking at me from behind at my ribs.
All of this happened directly in front of the shocked dancers, the people on stage, and 7000 people in the club – most not realizing anything was happening as it all happened so quickly.
My two friends rushed towards me and literally pulled Offer off of me and tried to get them out of the booth. I was trying to fathom what was occurring and just wanted the drama out of the booth and be able to return to focusing on the mixer and what was happening with the song that was playing. As I stepped back towards the booth, I realized that my earphones had still been plugged into the mixer when the altercation started, and as I had been pulled away from the decks, the cable had pulled the mixer and all 4 CDJ decks with me. I remember thinking “please god help me that my headphones are not destroyed” so that I could continue playing.
Still in shock, I approached the table to look down and see that the mixer appeared to be completely missing; only the 4 CDJ decks were there. The music was still playing, so I looked around quickly and saw that the mixer had fallen off the table and was hanging just off the floor by a cable barely holding it, with other cables dangling and unplugged. I carefully pulled it back up to the table and connected the unplugged cables. I noticed that two of the decks were no longer functioning, and quickly replaced the USB drives in them so that I could continue playing. With a club full of people, in the height of the closing hour, all I could try to do was not think about what happened and focus on closing the party.
At the moment I pulled up the mixer, a cable came loose and the music in the room cut off and of course everyone in the club turned towards the stage. Luckily a gogo dancer turned and saw the cable that was hanging and pointed it out to me, I grabbed it and plugged it back into the mixer’s output and the sound resumed in the room.
I wish the story ended here, but after approximately 20 more minutes, I feel a tap on my shoulder and turn just in time to catch a punch in the face from Offer’s boyfriend/manager as the bouncer watched and then pulled him away from me. We can only guess that the boyfriend told the bouncer he needed something or wanted to talk to me as a method to get himself back into the booth. Finally he was removed again and shortly after I received word that Offer and the boyfriend had been removed from the club. My left eye was constantly tearing and stinging from the attack, and I finished my set hoping that my eye was not injured seriously.
In the end, I played for under an hour, most of that time under attack or recovering from it, while a handful of people watched incredulously and the rest of the club danced away oblivious to the events unfolding in the DJ booth.
Why I was attacked is still a mystery to me. I wish I knew the reason for this anger and violence during a celebration of Gay Pride at a such a monumental event. I’ve never seen such brutal behavior or violence from anyone, let alone an ‘artist’ such as Offer Nissim or a member of our community. I cannot imagine anything that could justify such violent and disrespectful behavior from anyone, no matter your resume. Assaulting and injuring a colleague in front of 7000 ‘fans’ is unexplainable.
But as I’ve sat here this past week wondering how to handle the situation, what is also disconcerting and unexplainable to me is that there has been no contact from Offer or his camp, no apology, direct or indirect, no remorse, as if they want to pretend it never happened. This speaks even further volumes to me about the character I am dealing with.
This is the accurate account of what occurred this fateful night at Madrid Gay Pride and I release this information to the public simply so that I can put this drama behind me, end the rumors and questioning, and move on in my professional career - spinning the music I love to the people who enjoy it – and with the hopes that those of you that receive this information can act appropriately on it.
With respect to my fans, friends, and colleagues,
Micky Friedmann
Source
This is so random, bizarre, and uncalled for. The whole "I'm a legend so therefore I can go on longer and they need to deal" sense of entitlement is so stupid. How would they feel if someone else went on longer and it forced them to cut their set short?
