Fan Who Had Izzy Stradlin Sign Destroyed Hits Back At Guns N’ Roses: ‘I’m Not Lying’

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Guns N’ Roses fan Caroline Campos has responded to GNR denying her claim that her ‘Where’s Izzy’ sign was taken away and destroyed in a new interview with Team Rock.

Campos now tells Team Rock the sign was removed by Fernando Lebeis, a member of Axl Rose’s management company Team Brazil and son of the singer’s longtime personal assistant Beta.

She says: “I saw that the band commented they had nothing to do with my sign being removed. While it’s totally possible they had nothing to do with it directly, someone sent me a message that it was ‘probably Fernando.’

“I Googled ‘Fernando Lebeis’ and immediately recognized him. I don’t want anything out of this except to tell the story of a disappointed fan and to say I am not lying. I have no reason to.”

Campos says she’s faced backlash from Guns N’ Roses fans since the incident, but insists her sign was simply a tribute to her favourite GNR video, Don’t Cry – and not a swipe at current rhythm guitarist Richard Fortus.

She adds: “I do want to try to convey that the sign wasn’t meant to be rude or malicious to the band, especially Richard Fortus.

“Asking ‘Where’s Izzy’ is not meant to insult Fortus any more than cheering for drummer Steven Adler would convey anything negative about Frank Ferrer. I made the sign as a tribute to the Don’t Cry video, where the ‘Where’s Izzy’ sign is featured for a split second.

“It’s my favourite GNR video and I tried to recreate the sign exactly. I’m not sure how anyone could take it to mean anything negative about the band.

“My husband and I paid a lot of money and drove a long way to see the band. I’m just so disappointed it happened. But I thought they all put on a great show, including Fortus.”

A GNR representative recently told Ultimate Guitar: “GN’R would never make this request! Izzy is family!”

Campos originally wrote on Facebook, “Ok so last night I had this “Where’s Izzy” sign. If you know about ‪#‎gunsnroses‬ and you’ve seen the Don’t Cry music video, you get it. If not, its a reference to ‪#‎izzystradlin‬ who left the band and is not currently touring with the other 4 original members.

So when the original drummer ‪#‎stevenadler‬ came out to play his set, I held up my sign with cheers from most of the people in my section. Axl looked at my sign and started laughing and said “That’s a good question!” He seemed to appreciate the sign. I put the sign away during actual performances so I wouldn’t block the people behind me, only held it up between songs when the lights came on.

About 10 to 15 minutes later, while ‪#‎GnFnR‬ was playing November Rain, our section got swarmed by security AND stage crew (with headsets on). They went row by row asking “Who has the sign?? Who has the Where’s Izzy sign?” Most everyone in my section acted like they had no idea. Eventually they made it to the row behind me and saw the sign tucked under my chair. A guy in jeans and a black shirt tapped my shoulder and said “Is that your sign? You need to give it to me.” I said “Why? Who are you?” He showed a badge and said “I’m with the band and they’ve asked for the sign to be removed.” I said, “We aren’t allowed to have signs?? But I read that..” and he cut me off and said “You can’t have THAT sign. Give it to me.” I gave it to him and he walked away folding and ripping it up.

‪#‎axlrose‬ hasn’t changed a bit!”