Unhinged NYC straphanger goes off on ‘American Idol’ contestant — but riders rally around subway performer

This subway performance got derailed in a hurry.

A former “American Idol” contestant held his ground after being “attacked” by a disgruntled straphanger and won over a car full of straphangers on the A train in Manhattan, a viral video showed.

Shane Dan Turner, 29, was busking between 125th Street and Columbus Circle Wednesday afternoon when a woman who claimed her ears were too sensitive for his music grabbed his tip money and drowned him out with her own loud wailing, according to the clip.

“That was me being attacked by a mentally ill woman,” Turner said as he reshared the clip with an explainer at the end of it.

The video starts with the woman seen tussling with Turner and pleading with other riders to “make him stop” playing, while sharing that she just “had surgery on my f–king ear.”

Another woman is heard jawing at the antagonizer to “get your ass off the train,” advising her to use “Access-a-Ride” because that she “shouldn’t be on the train” if she just had surgery.

As the two women traded vulgar barbs, Turner changed a broken guitar string and launched into “I Don’t Love You” by My Chemical Romance, a song he hoped would “piss [her] off and try to get [her] to leave,” for another train car as the A made the long express journey from Harlem to Midtown.

A straphanger recovering from “ear surgery” tried to rob a busker before drowning out his performance with her own off-key wailing. Instagram/_theroaringlion_
A bemused straphanger looks up from his book and smirks as the exchange played out. Instagram/_theroaringlion_

Undettered, the woman sang along at full volume, drowning out the career performer as previously disengaged straphangers became visibly amused.

“This woman has lungs that I couldn’t compete with without a microphone,” Turner said on his Instagram page.

“This woman’s complaining about an ear surgery and she’s screaming at the top of her lungs.”

The artist, who competed on Season 23 of “Idol” last year, said the only-in-New York encounter started when the woman tried to sing over him before commenting on a pin he was wearing that read “I’m autistic, awkwardness may occur.”

“She sees the pin and goes ‘you’re applauding an autistic guy, he’s probably just wearing that for marketing,’” Turner recounted.

When he told the woman that he was “actually autistic,” she replied “that’s disgusting and narcissistic,” and grabbed for tip money that was in his case, according to Turner.

Shane Dan Turner busks at a subway station in New York on Tuesday, March 4, 2025. J.C. Rice

By the end of the clip, Turner had clearly won over the other straphangers on the crowded car, earning loud applause, verbal encouragement and tips from his fellow New Yorkers.

“They were giving me tips in my hand because they knew this woman was trying to grab it from my tip case.”

The singer shared with his followers that he suffers from a litany of mental health problems, but believes that the woman who tried to rob him and stymie his performance was the one who needed treatment.

“I got nothing on this person,” Turner said.

“I just wish she gets the help she needs; she was probably just having a very bad day.”

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