The American musician Ryan Adams has been accused by several women of sexual abuse of power. The 44-year-old Adams, nominated seven times for a Grammy, offered young musical talents to help them with their careers but later wanted sexual services in return. One of the women was fourteen years old when it started. Adams himself denies.
The New York Times spoke to seven women and many initiates and states that they see a pattern of manipulative behavior at the music maker.
The mostly young women were at the beginning of their musical career when Adams offered them opportunities for a successful start to their careers. Adams later tried to seduce the singers into sex. When they refused, he would have responded vengefully and stopped supporting the talents.
Adams would have abused the women emotionally and verbally, and in messages and on social media he was negative towards the women who rejected him.
One of the women accused by Adams is his ex-wife, singer and actress Mandy Moore. They and the others claim that Adams exploited them and abused their ambitions. “He had the power with music,” says Moore.
Video call with fourteen-year-old fan
The now 44-year-old Adams started to communicate with a fan in 2013. She was a fourteen-year-old bassist who had already started a career in the music world. The conversations between Adams and the girl were soon no longer about music but about sexually tinted things. Finally, the bassist says, they had a video call in which Adams literally exposed himself to the camera during phone sex.
The New York Times states that it has seen three thousand text messages that were sent back and forth. The girl was fifteen and sixteen years old and is now twenty. She never met Adams in real life.
‘I’m not perfect but the article is not right’
Adams, a respected musician with sixteen albums to his name, denies all accusations. He does apologize on Twitter if he has ever inadvertently hurt someone. “I’m not perfect and I made a lot of mistakes but everything in the article shocked me and is incorrect.”
The musician also points out that he would never behave inappropriately with someone he knew that the person was underage. “For someone who always wanted to spread joy with my music, it makes me sad to learn that some people think I hurt them.”
But the picture that this article paints is upsettingly inaccurate. Some of its details are misrepresented; some are exaggerated; some are outright false. I would never have inappropriate interactions with someone I thought was underage. Period.
— Ryan Adams (@TheRyanAdams) February 13, 2019