The New York Times published a story about musician Ryan Adams and his alleged sexual assaults of underage female musicians he was helping with their careers. Their biggest accuser is Ava, a young bassist that Adams supposedly exposed himself to and there are some very disturbing texts between the two. Ex-Wife Mandy Moore has hinted at some of these actions with no confirmation.
There are few people in this world that I would be absolutely devastated if it came out that they had sexually assaulted someone: Barack Obama, Joe Biden, Tom Hanks and Ryan Adams.
It is safe to say I am crushed.
Ryan Adams is a punk-rock folk musician with insane song and music writing talent. His album Prisoner is always flowing through my headphones. He was set to release three new albums this year.
Adams took to Twitter to defend himself, “I am not a perfect man and I have made many mistakes. To anyone I have ever hurt, however unintentionally, I apologize deeply and unreservedly.” He also stated that some of the accusations were outright false.
So now I am conflicted. As a feminist, how can I support a musician that has possibly committed some really disgusting actions?
My dad, who is also a huge Ryan Adams fan told me, “Welcome to the folly of hero worship. I’ve been burned many times before. There are few artists of any kind that would survive any close examination of their lives; separate the art from the artist.”
But, if true, isn’t this just as bad as supporting Chris Brown? Michael Jackson is still hugely popular, but his accused actions are horrific. What about Stan Lee? Do we ignore every movie that has Weinstein’s name on it?
Why did Mandy Moore come forward about Adams’ controlling nature now and not five years ago? Could it possibly be because she has a new album coming out very soon?
Adams’ ex Phoebe Bridges released an amazing album, Stranger in The Alps, two years ago which is almost exclusively about him; there was no mention from about his actions then. If she had, I wonder if her album would have skyrocketed from the added attention.
Maybe the current political climate allows these women to come forward because before they weren’t able to.
Now I admit, I am biased. If these accusations where about someone I didn’t like, I wouldn’t be asking these questions and analyzing the situation so deeply.
Regardless, I think it is important to question, look at every side and admit when you simply don’t know what to do.