Predators in the music industry
Good News! You scored some Drake tickets, a backstage pass included in some random school raffle, and, excited as any young fan would be,you started counting down the days. Four,three,two, one! It’s the day of. The concert was unforgettable. You go backstage excited to get to know your favorite celeb, but instead he becomes touchy and flirty. You say nothing; he’s a famous celebrity, who’s gonna believe you? Celebrities have a lot of money and connections. In this deep dive, I will be digging up celebrity predatory allegations and what the media has done to cover it up.
Aubrey Drake Graham, a well-known Canadian rapper and singer with 36 years of age, has been making music since 2006. His fame has influenced the younger generation, considering that they make up most of his streams and sell out his shows. This is important to state because this almost 40-year-old rapper has taken advantage of his young and impressionable fans. Esquire, an American magazine with issues dating back to 1933, wrote an article on this very instance called ”Disturbing Video Has Surfaced of Drake Kissing a 17-Year-Old at a Concert”, published on January 7th, 2019. Back in 2010, Drake had a concert in Denver where he invited a fan on stage, proceeded to sexualize her in front of the audience, and asked her for her age. After finding out she was way younger (17), while he was 23 at the time, he acknowledged that it was wrong by saying “I can’t go to jail yet, man!” After that, he still sexualized her some more and said, “Why do you look like that? You thick. Look at all this,” he continues. “I don’t know if I should feel guilty or not, but I had fun. I like the way your breasts feel against my chest.”. Disgusting, right? You would think it would end there; he then kisses her without her consent,regardless of his being a celebrity and doing it for show. She never agreed to the following stated in the article: “He kisses her on the cheeks, face, and forehead, then sends her back into the crowd.”. This is just one of many times Drake has done predatory things and used his fame to make it seem okay.
This took place on stage in front of an audience of a couple thousand! So how did this awful situation get forgotten? Let’s take a look at what else was in the media surrounding Drake’s fame in 2010. Drake released “Thank Me Later,” a studio album where he dissed his former romantic partner, Rihanna. VOGUE published an article called “The Complete History of Drake and Rihanna Toying With Our Hearts” by Patricia Garcia,published on October 11, 2016, that mentioned the following: “Thank Me Later, Drake releases a song called “Fireworks,” which alludes to his brief dalliance with Riri. “I can tell it wasn’t love, I just thought you’d fuck with me “. Rihanna was very much at the height of her career at that time, making this a very talked-about situation. Petty drama like this steered attention away from Drake being a predator.
Michael Ray Stevenson, best known by his stage name Tyga, is a 33-year-old rapper. Who was once well established and signed to a multimillion-dollar record label. At the height of his career, at the age of 21, he dated 14-year-old Kylie Jenner. While they were very public about their relationship, they constantly denied being together. Tyga was in a committed relationship with his ex, Blac Chyna,who later admitted to knowing about Kylie. In a BuzzFeeds article titled,”People Need to Hear My Side”: Blac Chyna Just Spoke At Length About The Whole Kylie Jenner-Tyga Relationship”, published on October 26, 2023, by Natasha Joki, In this article, Joki adds a quote from an interview Blac Chyna had where she said, “I feel like it ran its course, and then he started talking to Kylie at the time, which I think she was like 16 or something. We were engaged and stuff, so that’s kind of what ended it.” talking about the reason she and Tyga broke up.
When Kylie and Tyga made it official,people were aware of the weird timeline. What other distractions were in the media that drew people’s attention? Keeping up with the Kardashians was a big hit in 2014, when Tyga and Kylie made their relationship public. Starting off with Kris Jenner and Caitlyn Jenner, formerly known as Olympic gold-winning Bruce Jenner, divorce Caitlyn being a well-known celebrity and Kris having some stratum due to the hit TV show KUWTK caused the attention to be partially on them. Additionally, Kim and famous rapper Kanye West got married, and Kardashian and Scott welcomed a new baby. And more could be found in this E! News article titled “Here’s Every Important Thing That Happened to the Kardashians in 2014.” CARRIE DILLUVIO’s article was published on December 30, 2014. E! News just so happens to run the Kardashian show on their cable network, and the list they come up with excludes Kylie Jenner and Tyga’s relationship. This just shows how certain dramas are pushed on the media to distract people from the bad—not simply bad publicity but a crime.
The late British singer, songwriter, and actor David Bowie is known for being one of the most influential artists in the world. I’ve always seen Bowie presented in the most positive light; he’s even in my music library. But sadly, while conducting research for my paper, I discovered that David Bowie is a predator. Despite my being late to the party and knowing said information, Bowie still gets praised regardless of whether people know or not. In this New York Post article titled “Inside rock star sex predator allegations: From Elvis to David Bowie to Bob Dylan,” written by Jane Ridley and published on August 17, 2021, Ridley goes over the fact that David Bowie has had sexual relations with a 14-year-old at the age of 22. The victim, Lori Maddox, publicly shared this with some additional details. In the NYP article it is said that “according to the now-62-year-old, Bowie pursued her, but she initially rejected him. However, despite her young age, she maintains they had sex a few months later, when she ended up in his hotel room. This led to an alleged threesome with another underage girl, Sable Starr.”. Regardless of whether she “willingly” met up with him, a 22-year-old man should not have been sleeping with a 14-year-old girl. Despite this incident happening in the 1970s, it did not affect his career; he continued to be in the public eye all the way to his death in 2016.
How about artists that are publicly known as bad people but continue to get recognition? Marilyn Mason, a rock artist, is known for his “sweet dreams” cover, which most people prefer, and it is widely used in the media. It’s public knowledge that he’s a bad guy, with various crimes and weird behavior, but his predatory behavior has not been talked about enough. A USA TODAY article titled “Marilyn Manson sued for sexual assault of a minor less than a week after the Esmé Bianco settlement,” written by Hannah Yasharoff, goes over the allegations. In the title alone, we can gather that this isn’t his first offense. In the article, his abuse is mentioned and how it was encouraged. The article states, “Doe alleges sexual assault and rape, which she claims began when she was 16 and continued for years. Interscope Music Publishing and Nothing Records, which previously represented Manson, are also named as defendants. Doe alleges they knew about Manson’s abusive nature and “celebrated and promoted it) for their collective financial gain.”
You would think with this public knowledge, his positive recognition would end there, but no, as of recently, he was on Kanye’s album DONDA and helped Kanye with some of its creative details. Mentioned in Metal Hammers article “Marilyn Manson appears on Kanye West’s new album Donda, making a mockery of the idea of ‘cancel culture,” published on August 31, 2021. The article shares that while Kanye was informed about Mason’s history “after the fact” and took down the song, a lot of profit was already made. In the article, it states that “Kanye West has claimed that Universal has “blocked” Jail Pt 2, despite the fact that the song already has nearly two million plays on YouTube and Spotify, who will also be making substantial profits by promoting Manson’s appearance on the track.” Showing that despite Mason’s disgusting history, he continues to have positive recognition and financial wins.
In conclusion, even though I listed just a few musical artists, it doesn’t mean that there aren’t many more. The music industry is huge, and predators like these often get overlooked and their bad behavior ignored. The pattern I’ve seen here is that these accusations tend to be ignored, either because their “talents” overpower them or because some drama barriers the news. Regardless, this is sad and predatory artist can’t continue to get away with this.
Works cited
Miller, Matt. “Drake Kissing 17 Year Old Fan Controversy – Disturbing Video … – Esquire.” Disturbing Video Has Surfaced of Drake Kissing a 17-Year-Old at a Concert, Esquire, 7 Feb. 2019, www.esquire.com/entertainment/music/a25775771/drake-17-year-old-kissing-video/.
Garcia, Patricia. “The Complete History of Drake and Rihanna Toying with Our Hearts.” Vogue, Vogue, 11 Oct. 2016, www.vogue.com/article/drake-rihanna-timeline-history.
Watson, Sheridan. “Blac Chyna Went off on Wendy Williams for Talking about Rob.” BuzzFeed, BuzzFeed, 6 Nov. 2016, www.buzzfeed.com/sheridanwatson/can-we-talk.
DILLUVIO, CARRIE. “Here’s Every Important Thing That Happened to the Kardashians in 2014.” E! Online, E!, 30 Dec. 2014, www.eonline.com/news/610071/here-s-every-important-thing-that-happened-to-the-kardashians-in-2014.
Ridley, Jane. “Inside Rock Star Sex Predator Allegations: From Elvis to David Bowie to Bob Dylan.” New York Post, New York Post, 18 Aug. 2021, nypost.com/2021/08/17/famous-musicians-accused-of-dating-abusing-teens/.
Yasharoff, Hannah. “Marilyn Manson Sued for Sexual Assault of a Minor Less than a Week after Esmé Bianco Settlement.” USA Today, Gannett Satellite Information Network, 31 Jan. 2023, www.usatoday.com/story/entertainment/celebrities/2023/01/30/marilyn-manson-sued-lawsuits-allegations-timeline/11148760002/.
Carson, Tom. “David Bowie.” Encyclopædia Britannica, Encyclopædia Britannica, inc., 5 Dec. 2023, www.britannica.com/biography/David-Bowie.
Hammer, Metal. “Marilyn Manson Appears on Kanye West’s New Album Donda, Making a Mockery of the Idea of ‘Cancel Culture.’” Louder, Louder, 31 Aug. 2021, www.loudersound.com/news/marilyn-manson-appears-on-kanye-wests-new-album-donda-making-a-mockery-of-the-idea-of-cancel-culture.
