Yves Tumor performs at Glastonbury 2022.
Leon Neal/Getty Images
Experimental glam rocker Yves Tumor has been accused of sexual assault by multiple women. The news broke August 19 after the Twitter account @1likeaverage reshared a Reddit post from the subreddit r/yvestumor accusing the 36-year-old-musician, who was born Sean Lee Bowie and also goes by the nickname Shanti, of sexual assault. Shortly after, other artists including Angel Money and Kidӓ came forward to accuse Yves Tumor of similar behavior.
The initial Reddit post was a screenshot of an Instagram close friends story with the username redacted. That anonymized account said in part, “Shanti (Yves Tumor) sexually assaulted someone close to me last week. She has told me he forcefully groped her multiple times, bit her neck, held her down and stepped on her head with his shoe, amongst other things.” The original post featured a photo of the teeth marks left on an individual’s neck.
Following the publicization of these allegations, on August 19 rapper and musician Angel Money took to X and posted a series of tweets claiming Tumor had groped her at the September 11 release party for SISTER by Frost Children. “When he groped me ON CAMERA at the sisters album release.. we need to stop letting these boys touch on people,” she wrote in part. Angel Money also, posted video footage of the incident on X, which appears to corroborate her account. Representatives of Angel Money did not immediately respond to requests for comment by The FADER.
Soon after, two other women who said they attended that same event claimed on X that Tumor was harassing and groping them that night as well. “Hit on me so aggressively, I avoided him then later on he grabbed the chain of my purse on my arm and yanked it. It was the night of his Swedish house flop set so he just went club to club harassing women,” one woman posted in reply to Angel Money on August 19, noting that it was the same night as Tumor’s notoriously ill-received opening set for Swedish House Mafia. The following day, August 20, another woman tweeted, “ok so i am now realizing that the weird fucking guy who kept rubbing up on me the whole fucking show was fucking yves tumor?? awesome yeah he groped me too and made every woman in that club uncomfortable.”
On Sunday, August 23, musician Kidӓ, who contributed uncredited vocals to Tumor’s 2023 track “Lovely Sewer,” called working with Tumor, “one of the most disrespectful professional experiences of my career” in a series of posts on X. The musician added that she toured with Tumor behind his 2023 album Praise A Lord Who Chews… and claims that he “[…] emotionally abused his girlfriend who was also on tour. He relentlessly tried to sleep with me.”
Kidӓ went on to say in part, “This isn’t new. He’s been a predator in the fashion, music, and art world for over a decade.” Kidӓ also alleged that she was offered $1,000 by his record label Warp Records to license her vocals, uncredited, a week before the album’s release, and that the vocalist on Tumor’s song “Kerosene,” Diana Gordon, had a similar experience with Tumor and no longer speaks to him.
Speaking to The FADER over email, Kidӓ said:
“This isn’t a case of someone forgetting to attach a name. It’s a repeated choice, made about women specifically. Diana Gordon wasn’t credited on ‘Kerosene’ either.
Being properly credited on that feature could have significantly changed the course of my career. Millions of people have heard that song, and until this week, almost none of them knew it was me. That’s not a small loss. It’s a stolen chance at visibility in an industry that already makes women fight for scraps of it.
My heart goes out to the women who have bravely come forward with allegations.”
In a since-deleted Instagram Story on Sunday August 23, Tumor appeared to address the allegations publicly for the first time by posting, “100% untrue and also completely heartbreaking. will be taking extreme legal action.” The FADER has reached out to Warp Records and Yves Tumor’s team for comment.
Tumor rose to fame in the mid-2010s for his sonic eclecticism and dynamic style, releasing a series of avant-garde rock albums to critical acclaim and meaningful commercial reception. Though his last full length release was 2023’s Praise A Lord Who Chews…, Tumor has been touring with Swedish House Mafia and FKA Twigs in recent years, and was set to open on tour dates for Turnstile later this fall. Tumor most recently appeared on “Berghain” alongside Rosalia and Bjork from the former’s album LUX.
