System Of A Down’s Shavo Odadjian Clarifies 2007 Incident With Former Mastodon Vocalist: “I Didn’t Knock Out Brent Hinds”

System Of A Down bassist Shavo Odadjian has once again revisited the events surrounding the infamous 2007 altercation involving then-Mastodon vocalist/guitarist Brent Hinds—an incident that left Hinds hospitalized with serious injuries and sparked years of speculation.

Though it’s been long acknowledged that both parties have since moved on, rumors still persist regarding Odadjian’s role in the confrontation that occurred after that year’s MTV Video Music Awards. At the time, Hinds had reportedly gotten into a physical altercation with Odadjian’s friend and collaborator, Rev. William Burk, outside the Mandalay Bay in Las Vegas.

According to a police report filed at the time, Hinds was identified as the instigator, with early reports alleging that both Burk and Odadjian were involved in the altercation. Hinds suffered significant injuries in the clash, including brain hemorrhaging, a broken nose, and black eyes. He was left in a coma and required several weeks to recover.

In a new interview with Metal Hammer, Odadjian has once again clarified his version of what happened that night:

“I never knocked out Brent Hinds. That’s something that Brent was told by I-don’t-know-who. What happened was, we were in Las Vegas, outside Mandalay Bay after the MTV Music Awards, and I was with my friend, [rapper] Reverend William Burk. Brent Hinds comes out of a taxi and he’s like, ‘Bro, I love you!’ He was inebriated and swinging his shirt. He kept coming up to hug me. He was very in-my-face.”

Odadjian went on to explain that as he stepped away to get into a taxi, he saw Hinds throw a punch at Burk—which missed. Burk responded in what Odadjian described as an act of self-defense:

“Brent fell and hit his head and got knocked out. I was five, six feet away.”

Members of Mastodon, including Hinds, have previously addressed the incident in the band’s ‘Crack The Skye‘ documentary, and both sides appear to have put the past behind them. Still, Odadjian’s recent comments serve as a reminder that not everything reported in the aftermath was accurate—and that the internet never forgets.

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