Social media users have been left divided over a musician's reaction to a man who interrupted her busking set to tell her she was being too loud.
TikToker and singer Charli Mason has filmed herself singing on the streets on a number of occasions, earning fans both online and in the real world as she covers popular tracks by other artists.
Charli was performing as usual for members of the public in one video she shared online last month when she was suddenly interrupted in the middle of her set by a man on the street.
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Hear their exchange below:
In the clip, the man described as 'angry looking' could be heard off-camera asking Charli whether she is aware of the 'maximum volume' for buskers, to which she responded to say she isn't.
The man claimed members of the public shouldn't be able to hear buskers 'after 100 feet', but that he could hear Charli performing 'right up the high street'.
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Charli didn't criticise the man during the exchange, but instead nodded along as he went on to say that 'some people have hearing problems', adding: "It's really painful, it's far too loud."
The singer appeared unperturbed by the man as she claimed the council had already been in the area and didn't appear to have a problem with her performance, and the video came to an end with her clarifying whether the man's comments were his way of 'politely asking [her] to turn down, because that's fine'.
In a caption over the video, Charli added: "If you ever need a busker to turn down, just ask."
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A number of TikTok users praised the singer for the way she handled the man, with one viewer responding to the clip to say Charli had 'handled that with so much grace and elegance'.
"You go girl," they added.
Other viewers, however, were more defensive of the man, with one viewer saying they felt 'sad' for him and arguing he was 'respectful' in the way he approached Charli.
One said: "Aw I feel sad for him, hyperacusis is very painful and he's just trying to go about his day. He was respectful."
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Another responded: "He was respectful and polite and just explaining his reasoning. He’d be called a grumpy old man if he just said 'turn it down'."
A third said: "His issues are actually very valid and [he] was explaining it as well as he could. Always worth considering other people when doing things in public."
Charli addressed the more critical comments in a follow-up video in which she stressed that it was 'not at all [her] intention' to come across as dismissive of people's disabilities.
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"If I have made you feel like your disability or your feelings about buskers or noise are invalid then I apologise, it wasn't at all my intention," she said.
The singer went on to say she shared the video to show the man 'could have approached it a little bit better', and made clear members of the public have 'every right' to ask buskers to turn their music down.
LADbible has contacted Charli for a comment.
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Emily Brown