Accountability in Music • Page 288

Social Media is one of my biggest worries as a parent...needs to be regulated differently, and my kids aren't getting my permission til they're 30.

 

I looked at Graham Instagram profile https://www.instagram.com/grahamsierota last night and the most recent post was a selfie with the caption referencing an appendectomy he was getting soon. I didn't do a screenshot but I don't think it was done in the last day, since the story on this (the supposed BBQ invite incident anyway) ran early yesterday. All of the comments I saw were all fan-related and supportive. This morning I looked again and it is set to private.

I don't think Graham (or whoever manages his account) did that in immediate response to the Blast article, the story has since then been picked up by JustJared and then a bunch of other tabloid content-farm-like (to me) sites, and the account may have been private sometime since late yesterday anticipating wider publicity. We can expect to see more of this, probably rehashed stuff that's already been put out there.

In a sentence I think Graham's DM was highly inappropriate but I doubt think he was likely literally trying to hook up with her, I think he may not have remembered her exact age but I'm sure he knew she was underaged as far as any kind of relationship goes, but more obvious than her exact age that is that the account he'd DMing is highly popular, oriented toward peers who are into looking good for Instagram and the music scene, and she's Travis Barker's daughter, as you can see referred to in previous posts with her as a performer

I think it's likely he saw her 292k followers and he had 54.8k followers and wanted her help as a social media influencer in promoting his own work. Echosmith is supposed to be coming out soon with their second album: Sydney Sierota of Echosmith talks sophomore album, unexpected collaborations though the release date of that album may be pushed off even further into the future because of this incident. I think it's likely he more wanted her to fangirl him and his band to her followers than he wanted to hook up with her. Alabama's account Alabama Luella Barker (@alabamaluellabarker) • Instagram photos and videos has more selfies of her with lots of makeup than the average account of a 15 year old Echosmith fan would and an xxxtentacion tribute photo making her profile look more like an influencer's account than a more typical 15 year old girl.

I also think it's likely Graham would have used the opportunity in the near future to send a lot more inappropriate DMs to underage fans or potential fans that their street team / social media influencer team gathers for his band. That's Echosmith's fan base, or at least it was when their first album came out -- fans just old enough to appreciate the lyrics to "Cool Kids" or a little bit older.

 

No. Just no.

 

ah yes, the dude who has been called out numerous times for talking to underage girls, is now only talking to this underage girl to get his band more noticed. fucking helllllll

 

The dude didn't even try to use that as an excuse himself! He literally admitted to trying to hit on a 10-13 year old! What the actual hell!

 

Y'all hear something?

 

There really doesn't need to be a psychoanalysis of the guy - he's doing what men have been doing for literally thousands of years: preying on young, impressionable girls. It's really just that simple. Men are terrible and they do terrible things because they can usually get away with it.

 

man what

 

Yes, think of a 15-year-old Echosmith fan that has an Instagram account that looks something like Alabama's, with not so many followers with photos not so expensively staged. I can imagine there would be a LOT of 15 year olds like that would jump at the chance to RSVP for a BBQ with Graham and Echosmith's family and maybe have and still will, after a few months passes, anyway. It's girls like that who would be a whole lot more vulnerable to exploitation than Alabama herself regardless of her age, and if Graham had someone like Alabama as an influencer help promote his work, he'd have access to a lot more girls like that.

I think that what coverage we're going to see of this is going to revolve around how vulnerable someone like Alabama is more because she's Travis Barker's daughter and Instagram famous -- with the media reposting content originating on tabloid sites and tabloid-style coverage -- and so much not on how guys like this have access to groom more vulnerable fans through aspects of the music scene we can call out and change.

The point isn't to take apart offenders minds or focus on girls with the size of following Alabama has, but rather on aspects of the music scene that should be held more accountable, especially for more typical vulnerable fans.

 

you didn’t have to post that

 

whatever the reason is he’s still being creepy and predatory! what tf does her follower count have to do with it

 

So anyway, the consensus is that preying on young girls is sick and this guy is a huge fucking creep. Glad we all agree.

 

Did you miss the part of the article posted where he DM’d her at 10 years old?

The DM's appear to show repeated attempts by Graham to get in touch with Alabama back in 2016 when she was 10, with multiple messages sent just saying, "Hi."

At one point, Graham appears to say, "By the way I'm Graham from echosmith and I think ur beautiful."

Like, do a bit of research before posting that shit

 

Good lord, Martina. Just stop. Those were TERRIBLE posts. Stop making excuses for a predator.

 

This feels severely misguided, all things considered. Not really trying to debate this with you — there’s no context where a 17-18 year old guy DMing a 10 year old child (I’ll add especially that he’s a complete stranger to) multiple times to tell her that she’s beautiful is okay. Not to mention you’re discounting the other minors coming forward as well who do not share Alabama’s platform. There’s no additional analysis required here, dude’s garbage.

Also please don’t needlessly post about xxx in here like that, the post was bad enough without it

 

Imagine looking at these facts and thinking "Of course! Guerilla marketing tactics!"

ngl though, when I first read this story I immediately thought that would be his excuse when he eventually did make a statement. Instead he went with the much more believable "I thought this 10 year old was 18".

 

I still can’t believe that predator tried talking to a ten year old like that and nothing even came of it at the time

 

I mean, being 10, she probably didn't know what to even make of it at the time. I know I wouldn't have at that age. Like now at 13 she probably realizes what he was trying to do but I doubt she did at 10.

 

Yeah I reported that post

 

I’m just surprised she was let full control of her IG at that age, most parents would definitely have a sort of snoop around at some point.

 

Yeah idk, I could see a world where she had no idea why some random guy was messaging her and just ignored it. And if her parents weren't checking her account they wouldn't have known either.

 

Yeah I’m definitely not blaming her at all

 

I'm not saying you are, I'm just saying I don't think that it's necessarily true that every parent monitors their kids' social media accounts. Now, should they be? Idk, I'm not a parent so I don't really feel comfortable taking a position there. That's a whole other discussion though.

I was just saying I think the reason this only came to light now is because he tried sliding into her DMs again and, as a 13 year old, she now understands what his intentions are. Whereas at 10 she probably didn't.