Five for Fighting Singer Tweets His Experience Getting Shoved Out of Jefferson Memorial

John Ondrasik, the singer-songwriter behind the band Five for Fighting, said he was literally shoved out of the Jefferson Memorial by a police officer over the weekend.

John Ondrasik, the singer-songwriter of Five for Fighting, tweeted that he was pushed out of the Jefferson Memorial over the weekend. (Image source: Twitter/@johnondrasik)

Ondrasik took to Twitter to recount how he decided to jog through the National Mall on Saturday and pass by the memorials currently shuttered due to the government shutdown.

[blackbirdpie url="https://twitter.com/johnondrasik/status/386576110118379520"]

Ondrasik, known for hits including "Superman" and "100 Years," said he easily gained entry to the World War II Memorial, joining veterans and tourists inside despite the barricades erected last week.

Image source: Twitter/@johnondrasik

Ondrasik said he continued down to the Lincoln Memorial, which was also blocked off.

Image source: Twitter/@johnondrasik

But it's when he made the loop to the Jefferson Memorial that Ondrasik said he encountered a police officer who placed his hands on him and "forcibly removed" him.

"Under the gaze of Mr. Jefferson's statue, I was forcibly removed by a police officer who seemed to enjoy pushing me down Sir Tom's steps," Ondrasik wrote in an opinion piece for USA Today.

Image source: Twitter/@johnondrasik

Image source: Twitter/@johnondrasik

Image source: Twitter/@johnondrasik

"As someone who has done many benefit concerts for the police, I fully understand that the cops are in a no-win position here, but this gentleman's tone was illuminating," Ondrasik wrote at USA Today. "When I asked him why at some open air monuments it's OK to cross barricades and some it's not, he replied, 'That's their problem.' When I queried, 'Why do you have to push me when I'm leaving anyways?' He replied, 'It's quicker this way.'"

In tweeting photos from the memorial, Ondrasik obscured both the officer's face and badge.

Image source: Twitter/@johnondrasik

[blackbirdpie url="https://twitter.com/johnondrasik/status/386579074128158720"]

[blackbirdpie url="https://twitter.com/johnondrasik/status/386580052990627841"]

[blackbirdpie url="https://twitter.com/johnondrasik/status/386580177066553344"]

[blackbirdpie url="https://twitter.com/johnondrasik/status/386580259681742848"]

"I was basically bounced from the Jefferson Memorial! He did offer to move the barricade so I wouldn't have to jump over it," Ondrasik wrote at USA Today. "Oh well, I got my five miles in and learned something about government spite and political theater along the way. I'm just sad the Founding Fathers had to see it, too."

The U.S. Department of the Interior, which oversees the National Park Service and the monuments on the National Mall, did not immediately return a request for comment from TheBlaze.

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