As the feud between Ronnie Radke and The Needle Drop‘s Anthony Fantano continues, the Falling in Reverse singer “critiqued” one of the YouTuber’s videos onstage during a concert.
Falling in Reverse are currently out on their God Is a Weapon tour. During their performance last night (Aug. 12) in Dallas, Texas, they showed a video of Fantano playing bass on the big LED screen at the back of the stage.
Radke filmed part of the clip playing on the screen from his own phone and shouted over it, “What the fuck is this shit? How are you a fucking music critic? This guy’s a fucking music critic, guys!”
The vocalist uploaded the footage to his TikTok account and also shared it on X (formerly Twitter) with the caption, “I critiqued Anthony Fantano’s music untuned bass playing in front of 10,000 people in Dallas. Needless to say they also hated it.”
His X post also features a photo of a graphic displayed on the screen that reads, “I critique black music so I can say the N word with a hard R,” a reference to a time when Fantano said a racial slur. The YouTuber has since issued an accountability video apologizing for his use of the word.
See Radke’s whole post linked here, and check out the TikTok video below.
What’s Going on Between Radke and Fantano?
The rivalry between Radke and Fantano started in February of 2023 when Fantano uploaded a negative review of Falling in Reverse’s “Watch the World Burn” on YouTube. He titled the video “One of the WORST songs of the year…,” which prompted Radke to write a post about him on X.
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“[The Needle Drop is] like the Perez Hilton of music critics, looks 25 years older than he is and nobody will care about him in 3 years.”
Fantano clapped back in a post of his own, writing, “Over the past decade, I objectively look like I’ve put on fewer years than Mr. Radke. And I’ve had fewer trips through the legal system as well. I think I’m winning.”
And thus, the beef was born. Fantano has uploaded a few other videos about Radke since then, and in turn the singer filed a defamation lawsuit against the creator in August of 2024.
What Was the Ruling in Radke’s Defamation Suit Against Fantano?
As of this August, Radke lost the case. The vocalist uploaded a video to his own YouTube channel reacting to the ruling and affirmed that he filed the suit because Fantano called him a transphobic racist in the videos.
“So if you’re watching this and you’re not a fan and you hate my guts, I really hope that even if you’re not a fan, you can really understand where I’m coming from, because it’s really fucked up and I don’t think anybody should ever do that. I would never make a video about how Anthony Fantano was racist, allegedly, you know what I mean I would never do that,” Radke said.
“I think Anthony is a pretentious, insecure little baby that utilizes people for money so he can pay his rent in a negative way. That’s what I think. And that’s what his YouTube has become. It’s one of those things.”