Content Warning: This article discusses sexual assault, and rape. If you or someone you know are affected by the following story, you are not alone. To speak to someone, you can call Lifeline on 13 11 14, or 1800 RESPECT on 1800 737 732.
Sun Kil Moon and Red House Painters singer Mark Kozelek has issued a statement denying all allegations of sexual misconduct made against him by three women.
Denying the allegations, Kozelek wrote: “It is important that I publicly and unconditionally deny that I engaged in the inappropriate and disturbing incidents falsely depicted in the media.”
“While I support the important work of addressing legitimate claims of sexual misconduct, I reject the false allegations and innuendo in the recent press,” he continued, before threatening legal action.
“I have retained the legal counsel of Lavely & Singer to investigate and to pursue as necessary any claims against anyone participating to defame me in the media,” Kozelek concluded.
On Thursday, Pitchfork reported the allegations made by the three women, which allegedly took place on various occasions between 2014 and 2017. Among the accusations include that Kozelek exposed himself without consent, pressured a fan into non-consensual sex, and forced a woman to touch his penis.
One woman, who used the pseudonym Andrea in the article, claimed she was 19 years old when Kozelek, now 53, invited her to his hotel room in 2014 and “pretty much just pounced on me … I didn’t have the courage to be like, no, that wasn’t OK, and that’s not what I wanted to do.”
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She continued that the pair continued a brief sexual relationship, where “the lines [were] really blurred … our sexual relationship, every encounter was him trying to find another thing he could do, and not in a way where he asks for consent or permission.”
According to Pitchfork, Mark Kozelek did not respond to more than a dozen requests for comment made over a period of months prior to the report being published.
Sun Kil Moon’s UK tour was cancelled in wake of the concerning allegations.
