It all started on 11/5/2013 when a Blog post entitled 'I Won’t Apologize For Being Assaulted' from someone named Beth made the following accusations:
[quote]I totally bum people out because I happened to have been sexually assaulted by the singer of a band they like. Like REALLY like. I know, I know. I should have tried harder for a band just begging to be rejected and ridiculed so it wouldn’t ruin your iPod rotation but hey, then again, it really wasn’t my choice. But man, what a total inconvenience to poor you to know something bad about a band you love. Just ignore the facts, I mean it WAS a long time ago.
I am the survivor of a sexual assault at the age of 16 by a man more than 10 years older than me. This man cornered me in a room and tried to force me to perform sexual acts on him, stating he would tell everyone in the van I did it anyway so I might as well. When I fled the room, he chased me down the hall, pinning me against a wall and shoving his hands down every orifice he could find while shoving his mouth over mine to prevent my muffled screams and tears from being heard. When I eventually broke free, I locked myself in an abandoned room until friends came to me. I slept in that room only to be disturbed once by a band member who simply knocked on the door and said, “You don’t have to open the door, just listen. You don’t even have to tell me what happened because I already know and I’m really sorry.”
When I came out that next morning, 16 years ago, the band was gone, my wallet was stolen, and I was left a shirt by the band as if it were some sort of consolation prize. The irony of the band’s name, and me being a CASUALTY in my own right, was not lost on me. All these years later and every time I write those words, speak them, re-live them, I choke back vomit. I remember how The Singer smelled, tasted, his jagged rotten teeth, his worn leather skin, how the band argued about not cutting their hair because it was their statement, and mostly how utterly fucking helpless I felt. How scared, dirty, ashamed, used, rejected, confused, alone, and ruined I felt.
Well, fuck you Jorge. Fuck you and your shitty band.[/quote]
Oddly enough, this revelation says a lot more about how she, a punk rock girl, has been made to feel by "the scene" and how conflicting it was, and how conflicted she was. Rape is hard enough, she says, but when you're raped by the captain of the football team in a community that loves it's damn football team... Well, you get the idea.
On a Facebook page entitled Boycott The Casualties, it is said that "The number of women who are starting to come out with their stories of Jorge is growing daily," though I have been unable to verify any of this online.
The band issued a statement on their own Facebook page:[quote]Living in the modern age of smartphones and social media it's easy for information to be shared and spread without any thought to it's validity. Anyone that is a fan of The Casualties or who knows us personally can confirm we do not support or condone abuse of any kind. While we fully support free speech and free opinion, unfortunately sometimes people can get careless and wrong information gets spread around. The claims are 100% FALSE and we appreciate all of the support we have received from around the world from our friends and fans. We always have and always will be a band that stands for equality, anti-racism, and unity.[/quote]
I worked with Jorge at Tower Records in the Village (NYC) in the early '90s. We weren't close but we knew each other. This whole incident saddens me. I wonder what the truth is and if we will ever figure it out.
― Loud guitars shit all over "Bette Davis Eyes" (NYCNative), Thursday, 14 November 2013 19:29 (eleven years ago)