Accountability in Music • Page 32

The lead singer of that band behaved very creepily towards two of my friends when they were both 17. Of course at the time we thought it was cool and exciting. Thank god nothing actually happened. Fuck Hedley

 

Also
Hedley Were Allegedly Investigated for Drugging Underage Concertgoer

 

I think this is really cool
Toronto Tattoo Artist Offers Free Cover-Up Work on Hedley Tattoos

 

this is where I live, a venue I was at almost weekly and my band used to play at in high school. super fucked up that I never even heard about this.

 

they have been dropped from performing at the Junos and one of the opening bands have dropped off their tour.

 

http://www.vulture.com/2018/02/marilyn-manson-harassed-women-on-house-set-charlyne-yi.html

 

'House' Actress Charlyne Yi Accuses Marilyn Manson of Harassment

On Friday, Yi, who appeared as a series regular on Fox’s medical drama House, said that Manson visited the cast while they were filming the final season as a fan and "harassed just about every woman asking us if we were going to scissor, rhino & called me a China man."

 

Disappointed but not remotely surprised given it's Manson.

 

with confidence is back, reappeared for a new show announcement without saying anything new

 

that's shit.

 

Talib Kweli cancels show after venue "refuses to apologize" for booking Taake

 

They're filtering comments on the show announcement too. If you call them out it will get deleted. Hopefully this site can expose how shitty this band is.

 

two artists i never expected to be in the same news headline.

 

I posted this in the thread for the fest, but am sharing it hear to as I think it’s an interesting read/conversation on restorative justice and is different than most of the cases were used to hearing (from what I’m getting from this) and am curious of the discussion around it.

 

From the survivor's statement:

"While I got so much incredible support and compassion from those who have been following my story, I’m sure there are a lot of people who think I am stupid or crazy for voluntarily meeting with Malcolm or doing this process at all. To those people, I want to urge you to remember that healing looks different for every survivor. There is no one way that anyone who has been abused should react or seek to find peace. I wanted to share my experience because I know it is an uncommon one. Restorative Justice is not for everyone. I would never push a survivor to engage in an RJ process. I just want you to know that you have the option. Justice and accountability come in different forms. However, in my experience, it rarely comes to us (especially for black women) by way of police, juries, and jail. My process allowed me not only to hold Malcolm accountable for his actions but to also reeducate him so that he hopefully won’t harm anyone else in the future. That was important to me."

I think that's what matters most- what we always ask for is that the victim's wishes be honored, and if they are on board, I think that's fair and notable.

 

yeah, victim’s wishes should always come first. if people still feel uncomfortable they don’t have to go or support, but I feel bled fest made a reasonable decision here based on the accountability process.

 

Basically what has already been said. Victim's wishes first.

I almost never go on Facebook, I haven't had one since 2011 but man.

Reading some of those comments made me remember why I don't touch it.

 

"“‘islamophobic?’ A phobia is an irrational mental illness. So quite the contrary, religion is an irrational mental illness.”"

Oh my fucking god can this guy drop dead already.

 

Reading the FB comments on the Bled post is actually not as depressing as it could be. A lot of people are actively engaging in discussion and thinking critically.

As said above, I think understanding that the survivor signed on to this accountability process and believes it worked for both herself and for Malcom is incredibly important and I think understands where we in a progressive culture live at the intersection of call out culture and prison abolitionism

 

I don't think there was a right or wrong way for Bled Fest to go about the Malcolm London thing given that he has gone through a thorough accountability process with the survivor, and the decisions to include him or remove him are equally justifiable imo

 

^Agreed, and I'm kind of torn on this as well. If we as a music scene truly believe in transformative, restorative justice and accountability and Malcolm has gone through that process with the survivor (and has their blessing), then I can get behind including him on the line-up. With that being said, people who no longer feel that Bled Fest is a safe space because a former perpetrator of sexual violence is on the line-up also deserve to have their voices heard. It's a hard line to draw in the sand.

 

Its good to have this discussion. I'd probably err on the opposite side if I had to make that decision, but being open about their decision either way is the right thing to do.

 

so i'm finding myself more so on the side of this being more of a bad idea than a good one. to start: why book an artist with a history of sexual violence over the hundreds of artists that submitted where that's not the case? do they not background check the acts they plan on booking for information like this, especially in this social climate? it just doesn't make any sense to me.

second, i am a believer in restorative justice, but i do not think restorative justice and one reclaiming the platform they abused go hand in hand. it's one thing to go through the accountability process and afterwards be considered a safe person again and re-enter the scene in a social aspect (going to shows, etc.), but once someone uses their platform as a performer/music industry professional of any kind to take advantage of a person, they should not be able to reclaim that platform. there are hundreds of thousands of talented, hardworking, not abusive people who are ready and willing to be given the opportunities that person is taking.

it's also troubling that it seems like bled fest isn't really taking into account what sexual assault survivors who are against this person performing think. if you look at the comments on that facebook post there are plenty of survivors who are planning on going to bled fest expressing how unsafe they would feel at the fest if this person were to perform. if the safety of survivors always comes first, why isn't this being taken into account?

this is a very complicated situation for sure, but i just don't understand how anyone benefits from having this person perform (aside from the person themselves). if anyone disagrees with me or wants to offer any insight, feel free to share! conversations like these are very important to have

 

Two things i think that are interested in the comments of the facebook post are that bled fest said they didn't know anything about it before, but when you google just the artists name, and just the artists name, a link about it is the third thing that comes up. it's not a new article either, it's one from 2015, so it's not like anythings changed in the past few things. The other is that they're having an audience discussion after the decision may be more harmful and alienating, though i understand there might be different perspectives on that.

 

Someone had to have known, and just booked them while overlooking it. I can believe the people in charge didn't look into every act. But yeah, the point about reclaiming a platform is very solid, it'd probably be better to have booked someone else without known abuses in the past.