Mumpower’s son allegedly packs a punch

Carl Mumpower, the Asheville City Council member and congressional candidate, fired his son from his campaign Friday after 24-year-old John Matthew Mumpower was arrested and charged with slugging another man at Wild Wing Cafe.

The younger Mumpower, who goes by Matt Mumpower, and another man were marking “Thirsty Thursday” at the Biltmore Avenue bar about 12:30 a.m. Friday, according to an incident report written by Officer J. Brown, when a fight broke out. “According to the offender, the victim danced upon him in a mocking fashion and the offender struck him with a closed fist in the head/face area,” Brown’s report states. Mumpower was arrested and charged with simple assault, a misdemeanor.

In describing the incident to Xpress Friday, Carl Mumpower said that “some guy grabbed [Matt Mumpower] in a sexually suggestive way” and “that made Matt angry.” Mumpower said his son called him Friday morning to tell him what had happened.

“I was disappointed, hurt. He had been cautioned numerous times about the vulnerabilities that goes with a situation like this,” a despondent Mumpower said.

Mumpower, a Republican, said his son, working as his campaign coordinator, played an important role in his bid to unseat Democratic Rep. Heath Shuler, who represents the 11th Congressional District for Western North Carolina. “I was really enjoying working with Matt. He was doing a good job. He’ll be missed.”

Mumpower said that several volunteers in the campaign were upset that he had fired his son. But “he’s accountable for his behavior,” Mumpower said. “I’m going to hold him accountable. That’s no the kind of behavior that ought to be going on.”

“I’ll take the heat and he’ll take the responsibility.”

Click here to go to the Xpress Files and read the Asheville Police Department report about the incident.

— Jason Sandford, multimedia editor

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30 thoughts on “Mumpower’s son allegedly packs a punch

  1. jrr

    No problem with Matt taking up for himself! Most straight men would have done the same thing. What will it do to Carl’s campaign….probably help it. Sometimes it’s good to know that you’ve got someone fighting that ain’t scared to take a stand!!

  2. T100C-1970

    Lemme see here…. As a straight male, if I walk up to and start “dancing upon” an unknown female and she gets pissed off, its her fault because she’s “heterophobic”.

  3. Lacy

    that’s the most ridiculous comment I’ve ever heard.

    Not to mention that that very situation happens to many women all the time, and they don’t go around clocking people.

  4. The Masked Superstar

    I know people that were at the bar, and they have said it was a drunken argument.

  5. jpcs

    If you’re not into the gay lesbian scene, you are phobic something! It really worries me tho. LOL

  6. Dwayne

    I see. It’s okay, it had something to do with someone being gay? Uh huh. Sure Carl. Your way of taking responsibility is to say the guy grabbed him in a “sexually suggestive” way? Were you there? Was there a camera? This is hilarious. Talk about trying to slide out from under responsibility. This is such an OBVIOUS way of saying, hey, what would you have done? IT was some gay guy. Just look at the comments, “I would have done the same thing.” Classic.

  7. shadmarsh

    What I was commenting on was the implicit homophobia in the above post(s), that the victim was gay, and Mump Jr.’s reaction was therefore justified… but to answer your (idiotic) question: I don’t know if that would make her “heterophobic” or not, but I am pretty sure it would make you perpetually single.

  8. Max Cooper

    Don’t individuals have a right to defend themselves from sexual harassment? If the situation were a man harassing a woman, wouldn’t she be justified in doing what it took to negate the threat to her person? Why the double standard?

    Being gay doesn’t give you an excuse to sexually harass people you don’t agree with.

  9. jpcs

    So am I my brother’s keeper? This guy is not a child, he is a grown man. Why act like Carl was the one doing the punching? You can raise a child the best you know how…. and they will still do things that you don’t like or approve of, so if you’re blaming Carl for this, then you are just looking for some reason to bad mouth him anyway! Oh be careful little tongue what you say…especially if you have children! Your turn may just be around the corner!

  10. shadmarsh

    So the guy mistakes him for someone else, apologizes, then gets punched in the back of the head as he turns around to walk away…What a quality human being Mump Jr. seems to be. On the plus side for Carl, at least he no longer has a complete moron running his campaign.

  11. Matt Mumpower

    Come on guys, do you always believe what the media says? The kid grinded on me from behind, tried to grope me and made me completely uncomfortable. It wasn’t preconceived or anything. The guy walked away, came back in my personal space and it was just a reaction. He was looking straight at me. There are plenty of witnesses to back that up. It wasn’t a good decision on my part but it was a defensive reaction not offensive. As to the WLOS interview, they cut my comments the way they wanted to portray them. I went to office and WLOS was there, I wasn’t ready for them or anything. The other kid was at Wild Wings, had a tie on and was prepared for the interview.

  12. Matt Mercy

    If someone grabbed him, that’s assault and battery itself (sexual assault, in fact). Before you physically touch someone like that, you better be sure who it is, or you’re going to get slugged if they don’t like it.

    And shut up about the “homophobia”, for the love of Christ! It’s sexual assault!!!

  13. Ken Hanke

    Ah, the penalty of being so blindingly beautiful that complete strangers are driven into a libidinous frenzy where all self control is lost…

  14. This is a video you made, right Richard?

    Keep doing what you’re doing. While I’m not a fan of the production style you use, I think you’re brimming with potential to be a Yeltonesque gadfly.

  15. R Bernier

    I am to the point were I feel everyone should hold their party accountable. Being upset the status quo shpuld define the future.

    If we ever have two candidates running to replace a vacant slot for Congress “we all” should demand them sign a pledge that they will debate a few times every two years.

    Looking back know, I can be safe to say that neither one really wanted to debate.

    Thats why we need a pledge.

  16. robby

    Wow! All of a sudden they got a story together. How many day’s did it take you to prepare. Why didn’t you take out charges on this guy for assaulting you if that was the case? Maybe you should have taken out a restraining order since you were so offended by this sexual being. You all are an emabarressment to the conservatives.

  17. R Bernier

    Robby,
    No the emabarressment is of you sir due to the fact that you dont have all you details.

    Has WLOS & the local paper ever gave the full details & in this case do you think they would have shared the facts?

    All the emabarressment falls on you & the progressives.

  18. shadmarsh

    what does two douche-bags getting into an infantile dust-up in a bar have to do with progressives or conservatives?

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