Accountability in Music • Page 875

this is correct

 

What if water touches water

 

This is a family establishment.

 

good for her…only thing I don’t like about this whole thing is the involvement of Dave Portnoy, who himself has assault/abuse allegations. he’s so gross and the entire platform has a right-wing slant to it.

 

That absolutely sucks about Zach Bryan. Emotional abuse is no joke. But yeah, Portnoy being involved with this also really sucks shit.

 

This is not to minimize anything, but "the chicken fry girl from Barstool Sports is cancelling Zach Bryan" is a sentence that is actively breaking my brain

 

I’m glad she’s okay but good lord Dave Portnoy profiting off this is gross

 

All Time Low Drops Libel Lawsuit, Says Probe Found 'Smear Campaign'

 

What do we think of this?

 

It's paywalled, unfortunately

 

Jack Barakat and his band All Time Low say their investigation of anonymous allegations they engaged in sexual misconduct has proven the claims were “false and damaging online rumors.” Now they’re requesting dismissal of the defamation and libel lawsuit they filed two years ago.

In a new court filing obtained by Rolling Stone, the band’s lawyer is asking the court to drop the case without prejudice, meaning the pop-punk quartet reserves the right to revive the action in the future. The complaint was first filed in 2022 against at least three anonymous defendants who claimed in social media posts that the group sexually harassed or assaulted teen fans.

The central defendant in the case, Doe 2, was identified as someone who went online in 2021 and posted a lengthy statement claiming to be a former fan allegedly abuse by Barakat. Using the handle @ATLstatement, Doe 2 claimed to have been a 15-year-old girl who snuck backstage at a 2011 concert and started a decade-long relationship with Barakat that involved alleged sexual abuse.

According to a new statement from the band’s lawyer, a lengthy probe involving subpoenas and court orders determined that Doe 2 was actually multiple people who “spun an elaborate, fabricated story posing as a fan who incredibly and falsely claimed to have traveled with the band for more than 10 years.”

“There is no such person and no such incidents occurred. Rather, an investigation revealed that Doe 2 was an orchestrated smear campaign by multiple individuals posing as a fake fan. The investigations identified individuals behind the anonymous post who went to great lengths to hide their identities,” lawyer Michael B. Garfinkel of Venable LLP said Friday in the statement to Rolling Stone. “All Time Low has chosen to handle the matter privately and protect the identities of those behind Doe 2, instead of pursuing further litigation at this time.”

The allegations against All Time Low started to go viral in 2021 after Doe 1, a TikTok user, posted a cryptic message under the name @mini.grew that claimed “a famous pop punk band” offered her beer on a tour bus and asked for her bra “for their nasty collection” when she was 13. The post didn’t explicitly name the band but “gave easily solved clues” that led to a consensus the group was All Time Low, the band’s lawsuit said.

According to the complaint, a Twitter user named @spidahkii quickly stepped forward to refute Doe 1’s allegations. She claimed to have attended the concert with Doe 1, shared a photo purportedly showing them at the event and said Doe 1’s claims “never happened.” The lawsuit claimed Doe 1 then admitted she posted her statements “to be petty towards a peer” and made her video private.

A few weeks later, the handle @ATLstatement posted the statements attributed to Doe 2. Later that same month, another Twitter user with the handle @dietsodasage posted a tweet claiming to have counted 97 allegations against the band. “If 97 people aren’t enough then I don’t know what to tell you,” the user, identified as Doe 3, wrote. The Twitter account attributed to Doe 3 has since been deactivated, but the lawsuit included a screen grab of a post attributed to @dietsodasage that reads, “I feel kind of weird about how people took my tweet about the atl situation :/ I didn’t mean for things to go like that so I’m probably going to stay priv for a few days.”

Garfinkel said in his statement that the band’s investigation narrowed to Doe 2 after “Doe 3 quickly retracted the post and Doe 1’s post was debunked by a friend.” As Rolling Stonepreviously reported, Garfinkel appeared at a hearing in June and said he was working with the State Department to force two Internet companies based in Panama to trace the IP addresses associated with Doe 2’s social media profiles. A follow-up hearing in the case was set for Nov. 13.

“The investigation proved what All Time Low knew all along – the allegations in the posts are completely and utterly false,” Garfinkel said in his Friday statement. “Nonetheless, considerable time and legal resources were required to fully reassure All Time Low’s business and creative partners who put their trust in the band that the debunked claims were irresponsible and without merit.”

The other three founding members of All Time Low – singer and guitarist Alex Gaskarth, bass player Zack Merrick, and drummer Rian Dawson – were listed as co-plaintiffs with Barakat in the lawsuit. The complaint was filed after the Maryland quartet issued an all-caps statement in October 2021 calling the online claims “absolutely and unequivocally false.” The band issued a new statement Friday after requesting the dismissal.

“This has been a challenging time for our band as we fought to clear and debunk these false and damaging online rumors,” they said. “We remain deeply grateful for those who have supported us throughout this legal process, including our fans, our peers, and collaborators. With this case dismissed, we remain committed to continuing to foster a healthy, safe environment both at our concerts and within our fan community, and we look forward to the next chapter of All Time Low.”

 

smry

But the gist is that they claim that their probe found the accuser was actually multiple people working together to fabricate a story and that they're dropping the libel case to pursue a private resolution to "protect the parties involved".

 

The allegations on All Time Low always seemed suspect to me, my biggest issue is when they acted like they were always saints. Their stage show 10-15 years ago wouldn’t fly today.

They encouraged the bras to be thrown on stage, they called out when girls flashed them, etc. I think a lot of this is even on their live DVD.

 

Abigail Breslin was absolutely a teenager when her and Jack were together.

 

That article seems to be pretty well detailed and believable but I guess you never know

 

Abigail Breslin, 17, Dating 25-Year-Old Musician Jack Barakat - E! Online

 

I think we all agree that happened and that it's bad. This discussion is about an unrelated matter with three Jane Does being potentially false

 

pretty wild back in 2013 e online is like “yeah this is very normal and maybe cool!”

 

Didn’t one of the Madden bros date Hillary Duff when she was underage in the 00’s and nobody bat an eye?

 

He dated Duff and constantly made fun of Kelly Clarkson for being “fat.” It was not a great time.

 

Both Jack and Abigail have always maintained that they didn't date. I think he took advantage of the attention and silly Hollywood opportunities he got from being seeing with her which was still gross behavior considering she was a young female fan who may have had her feelings hurt, but I don't think it was predatory. Joel and Hillary was legit yikes.

 

I don’t have a dog in the fight, but the ATL stuff from the accusers seems pretty suspicious, which sucks if they’re using accountability for bad purposes. Just really sucks to see.