Dance Gavin Dance vocalist Tilian Pearson has stepped away from the post-hardcore outfit after two women made sexual misconduct allegations against the singer.
The allegations first arose this week after a woman posted on Reddit accusing Tilian of sexual assault after she reached out to Pearson via Instagram following Dance Gavin Dance’s performance at SwanFest in Sacramento, California, on April 23.
She revealed that the pair had been intoxicated and headed to Pearson’s residence, where she alleges he slapped her and forcibly having sex with her.
“I knew he was pretty drunk and going through an extremely stressful time, so I helped him through it, and I was genuinely happy to do so. I was comfortable enough now to finish what I started, but at one point this man had decided to straight up slap me across the face,” she alleged. “Obviously, it was in an attempt to be ~sexy~ but it ended up REALLY hurting.
“I voiced this like, ‘Hey, uh. That’s cool and all but could you ask next time, and maybe not do it as hard?’ He heard me, hesitated for a second, and then did it again. I mean. Hard enough to throw my hearing out of whack and have me black out for a few seconds – it wasn’t cool.
“He wouldn’t say anything, just grab me and put me back on,” she claimed in her post. “It physically hurt. It wasn’t okay, and I voiced that it wasn’t … After all that, I didn’t reeeeally want to stay the night with him, but he insisted. He gets into this weird ‘snuggling’ position and I … legitimately could not move. I was starting to get a little freaked out and tried to tell him I should leave, but again. He wouldn’t let me. He kept insisting I had to stay the night with him, and he wouldn’t let me go.”
Tilian responded to the allegations on Reddit, saying, “I want to start by saying I’m truly sorry for what you have gone through. When I initially read the detailed account of the night from your perspective, I was stunned. To me, it was a consensual experience, both times when we were intimate. But I will not deny you of your truth and recognise that it has caused you a lot of emotional stress. I sincerely apologise for that.”
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Eventually concluding his statement, Pearson revealed, “I hold myself fully accountable for causing you this emotional pain. I will be entering an intensive therapy program to address this issue head on to become the healthiest, most responsible version of me, doing the work necessary to ensure this never happens again.”
Not long after, however, a second woman came forward with her own sexual misconduct allegations against the musician, which included screenshots and photo evidence to support her claim that the singer had coerced her into sex.
You can read what she shared of their encounter, along with texts she claims were from their alleged relationship here.
Following the allegations, Dance Gavin Dance took to social media to say that Pearson would be stepping down from the band.
“The recent allegations against Tilian are something we take very seriously, and we have been in deep discussion regarding the appropriate action,” the statement read.
— 🎰🧃Dance Gavin Dance🍓 (@DGDtheband) June 3, 2022
“Effective immediately, Tilian will be stepping away from the band in order to seek professional help. Jon, Will, Matt, and Andrew will continue on with all currently scheduled tours. The band will also be proceeding with the release of [new album] Jackpot Juicer as planned. We all worked incredibly hard on this album, and it is also the last recorded body of work from Tim – we want to be sure we give it the full release attention that it deserves to honour his legacy.
“We know that this is a very upsetting and trying situation for all those affected, and we ask people to please be as understanding as possible while everyone works through this. We appreciate you always.”
The shock news comes less than two months after the sudden passing of Dance Gavin Dance bassist Tim Feerick.
