UPDATE (3/27/2019): Following a lawsuit from abuser Patrick Crowley, claiming defamation and anti-gay discrimination by Billboard for his recent firing, the high-profiled publication has issued a second statement regarding Crowley's actions of sexual blackmail and harassment. Billboard remains "comfortable" with their termination decision and continues to pledge their full support for the victims who have come forward.
Read Billboard's full statement here.
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Six queer artists of color have now come forward with sexual harassment and blackmail allegations against former Billboard Pride senior director Patrick Crowley. More artists are likely to come forward.
Following a Buzzfeed story published on Tuesday, shedding light on Nik Thakkar, a British musician who performers under the NEO 10Y moniker, and his social media interactions with Crowley, Billboard confirmed the senior director was fired for "unprofessional behavior".
According to Thakkar, when he connected with Crowley to initially inquire about when a previously-given interview about new single "Dopamine" would be published, the former director quickly changed the subject and instead demanded nude photographs be sent to him and a co-worker.
“I’ll give you his email to send him nudes,” Crowley wrote to Thakkar via Instagram, “Just cc me”.
Thakkar refused. Shortly after, his music was removed from a Billboard-sponsored playlist in November 2018.
As The Atlantic pointed out in a recent article, the days of the casting couch had now become digital. Evidence of a "pay-for-play" scandal was slowly being uncovered, at a publication synonymous with the American music industry.
"The detail of the conversation between Crowley and Thakkar, offers a rare and detailed insight into the techniques often deployed by those using power to gain sexual favours," BuzzFeed writer Patrick Strudwick stated in the original article. "Crowley used humour. He self-deprecated, in an attempt to provoke pity. He spoke in metaphor, he generalised and used emoji. All serve to disguise his intentions: softened, and couched in playfulness before the direct, unquestionable command: Send naked pictures."
Billboard eventually issued an apology, two days later, and only via the Billboard Pride social media accounts (20,000 Twitter followers vs. Billboard's 7.15 million). In the statement, the publication said Crowley's behavior did not meet their ethical and professional standards.
The apology was not enough for the artists though, not enough to erase the abuse and manipulation they had been forced to endure. Today, the six artists have issued a joint statement condemning the publication's half-hearted response and lack of appropriate action.
The victims, including Michael Medrano, a Los Angeles-based indie pop artist; Kisos, a New York-based publicist and musician; Alextbh, a queer artist in Malaysia; Graveyardguy, a 20-year-old singer-songwriter and dark-pop musician from Pennsylvania; and Mosayac, a Nashville singer", now call on Billboard, not just Billboard Pride, to release an additional statement on how the publication "will remedy the culture that allowed Crowley's behavior" (Billboard's former CEO was fired last year for similar sexual harassment allegations) and how they will "support artists who publicly came forward and are now facing threats from the former director" (Crowley sent each known victim a legal cease-and-desist threat).
Instead of supporting an artist, Crowley used his position at one of the country's most influential publications to abuse and blacklist artists who did not comply with his demands. Paired with the ambition of these young, independent male artists trying to make a name for themselves, it was easy for Crowley to manipulate the situation just for his own sexual satisfaction. He was dangling advancement of their careers in front of their faces.
“It’s such a big brand and it’s so unfair,” Thakkar had told Buzzfeed. “I felt like there was an agenda that I wasn’t aware of. So when I’m getting 10 messages about nudes I try to push it away, but politely, within a mature and kind way of doing it that doesn’t fuck up my relationship with the biggest music publication in the world.”
In the midst of the #MeToo movement, where many have come out of the shadows to share unfortunate stories of sexual violence and abuse by people in positions of power, the artists felt it was their time to speak up about a common issue the LGBTQ community seems to often ignore or refuse to take seriously.
The artists hope that by sharing their stories of improper communication with Crowley, they are calling attention to the lack of support from other artists who have been featured on Billboard Pride and from those who pride themselves on being social justice advocates. They do not want the situation to be labelled simply as an "LGBTQ issue", but a more problematic culture issue that just happens to involve LGBTQ victims.
To them, the silence has been deafening.
Both Kisos and Michael Medrano have previously been featured on Album Confessions.
No apology from Crowley has been released, though he was still active on Twitter the day of Buzzfeed's article release. No follow-up statement from Billboard has been released.
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