‘Heartbroken’ NYC subway cellist who was whacked with a metal water bottle by stranger says he’s DONE with platform performances after SECOND shocking assault in front of straphangers in one year
The cellist who was hit in the head with a water bottle by a stranger during a performance on the New York City subway last week says he is done performing on train platforms.
Iain Forrest, 29, a medical student and musician, played his electric cello at the 34th Street Herald Square Station on the evening of February 13.
In a shocking moment captured on video, an unknown woman came up to him, grabbed the metal water bottle he had placed on the ground and smashed it over his head. The bottle clattered to the floor as Forrest held his head in pain.
Forrest announced on Instagram earlier Sunday that he has formed a coalition with his fellow musicians called The Subway Performers Advocacy Group (SPAG) but says he will continue to entertain underground for a while.
“It breaks my heart that this is something that has to stop indefinitely, barring some sort of systemic change with protections for subway performances,” he said.
The cellist who was hit in the head with a water bottle by a stranger last week while performing on the New York City subway says he’s done performing on platforms
SPAG’s stated goal is to ask the MTA and NYPD to keep statistics on crimes against subway musicians so that police resources can be “smartly allocated to where they are needed to prevent attacks.”
Forrest, who said his escaped attacker still has not been caught, told the Daily news from New York he didn’t understand what exactly happened to him until the attacker literally hit him.
‘I couldn’t quite get my bearings and it wasn’t until I saw my metal water bottle rolling on the ground and I saw the face of the crowd – one of awe, disbelief and shock – that I realised: I think someone just bashed the back of my head with my metal water bottle,” he said.
Police released a video of the suspected attacker that Forrest – who is also studying medicine – shared on Instagram.
He fears he can no longer perform on the subway without worrying his loved ones.
‘I have a wife. I have family and friends who care about me and I don’t know what they would do if I was gone,” Forrest said.
As Forrest previously said, it’s the second time in the past year he’s been attacked while performing.
A man beat and strangled him and broke the battery of his electric cello before making off with both his money and the instrument last May.
Iain Forrest, 29, a medical student and musician, played his electric cello at the 34th Street Herald Square Station on the evening of February 13.
In a shocking moment captured on video, an unknown woman came up to him, grabbed the metal water bottle he had placed on the ground and smashed it over his head. The bottle clattered to the floor as Forrest held his head in pain
Rendell Robinson, 40, was arrested and charged with theft and remains in a cell on Rikers Island in connection with the case, which is still pending.
Forrest said the MTA assigned a police officer to watch over him for a month or two after the attack, but it eventually stopped.
“That’s happened too many times, and it’s almost normalized as an acceptable ‘risk’ for this occupation,” he said.
“And I think this is something that needs to be highlighted and tracked more closely in terms of the numbers and where these things are happening.”
Forrest wrote on X, formerly Twitter, that the woman fled the station and fled to a nearby Macy’s, where she evaded city police.
Forrest was playing electric cello in a Manhattan subway station when an unknown woman hit him over the head with a metal water bottle.
The medical student and performer was attacked at the 34th Street Herald Square Station on the evening of February 13. Forrest said the woman fled the station and fled to a nearby Macy’s, evading NYPD officers
Forrest is completing his MD-PHD studies at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai
“This is the second attack I have suffered in less than a year while performing for New Yorkers in subway stations,” the artist wrote on social media.
‘I don’t think I can do this anymore. I am suspending subway performances indefinitely.”
He coincidentally was treated for his first seizure at Mount Sinai, the same hospital where he attended medical school.
Police say they are looking for a woman linked to the latest attack who was last seen wearing a mustard yellow jacket, black hat and red scarf.
“No one in the transit system, including musicians, should be subjected to violence, and when the NYPD catches up with the person who committed this senseless attack, they will be held accountable,” the Metropolitan Transit Authority wrote in a statement.
Forrest is a member of the MTA’s Music Under New York program, which schedules music performances at transit hubs throughout the city.
The 27-year-old performs under the name ‘Eyeglasses’, playing covers for electric cello and also writing his own music.
Police say they are looking for the perpetrator of the latest attack, who was last seen wearing a mustard-colored jacket, black hat and red scarf
In addition to his studies, Forrest is a member of the MTA’s Music Under New York program
He started playing in the subway before giving a breakout performance at Radio City Music Hall in 2020 and playing in the New York Yankees’ 2022 opener.
He was discovered playing the subway and gave a debut performance at Radio City Music Hall in 2020 with singer-songwriter Josh Groban.
Two years later, the 29-year-old performed at the New York Yankees’ opening game at Yankee Stadium.
In addition to his musical pursuits, Forrest is completing an MD-PhD at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai after receiving his doctorate in May.