Geordie Greep.
YouTube.
UPDATE: 5:00 p.m. EST: Geordie Greep issued a statement on Instagram earlier this afternoon addressing the allegations and apologizing to the anonymous victim. You can see that statemetn below:
Last week, Geordie Greep’s remaining U.S. tour dates were canceled after the former black midi frontman was accused of sexual assault on Thursday, October 8. The indie rocker addressed those allegations on stage in Vancouver that night after an unknown individual claiming to be a friend of the alleged victim distributed flyers at the show labeling Greep a “rapist.” Now the survivor herself is speaking out, detailing the incident and giving a lengthy written statement to Paste Magazine, saying that Greep kissed her while she was sleeping. Her allegations were corroborated by Cameron Campbell, Greep’s former keyboardist, who was present at the apartment when this all went down.
Campbell says he immediately decided to quit Greep’s band, then informed the tour manager and the rest of the band about the incident. At soundcheck that day, the band confronted Greep about his behavior. After seeing the flyers distributed at the venue, the rest of Greep’s backing band also decided to quit the tour.
The anonymous woman told Paste that the flyers at Greep’s show were distributed without her consent. “I’m speaking up because my voice was taken away when those flyers were handed out and this became public. My story was twisted and made public without my consent. My only goal here is to reclaim the narrative of something that happened to me.”
Both Campbell and the anonymous survivor gave lengthy written statements to Paste Magazine. Campbell wrote in part, “Someone who’s asleep can’t consent to being kissed, and I don’t think this should be downplayed as just an awkward romantic ‘move’ that didn’t go as planned.”
The statement from the woman accusing Greep of sexual assault read in part:
I am the victim involved in the Geordie Greep accusations. I feel I have to make a statement and share my side of the story, given how large this has become.
First off, I want to say I never wanted any of this to be public. Those flyers were shared without my consent or knowledge. I am very disappointed in the person who decided my story was theirs to twist and tell the world. I just wanted to try and process and move on from a really shitty night, but now it’s all over the Internet. I see people across countries debating what happened to me, hear my friends casually bring it up as gossip, see a speech from the man who assaulted me talking to a crowd about me.
So what actually happened?
[...]
It got very late, I was very drunk, and I fell asleep on the couch. I then woke up to him kissing me, and no, not just a peck. When I realized what was happening, I pushed him off of me and called him out on what he was doing. If I’d had a couple more drinks and didn’t wake up when I did, I don’t know what would have happened. But the fact of the matter is I was not raped. I don’t know his full intentions, and either way, his behaviour was disgusting. But he did not rape me, and I would never claim otherwise.
I don’t think that his assault should be diminished because of this. What he did was absolutely not okay, and should be taken seriously. But I feel very strongly that the word rape should only be used for rape. We need to be able to trust when someone says rape. Using that language when it’s not the truth diminishes it and takes away from its meaning. I very much hope that people don’t learn from this not to trust rape accusations, especially when they come from the actual victim. A man who was mad made the false claim, not the victim. I want that to be very clear.
Neither story was fully accurate. I was not raped. I was sexually assaulted, and [it was] more than a kiss taken the wrong way. I just want all of this to be over and to be able to move on with my life. My hope is that he learns his actions have consequences and never does anything like that again.
To all the men reading this, I want you to reflect and ask yourself how you can do a little better [...]
You can read the victim’s full statement accusing Geordie Greep of sexual assault here.
