Austin Carlile Denies Sexual Assault Allegations
Allegations of rape and sexual assault against ex-Of Mice & Men and Attack Attack! vocalist Austin Carlile resurfaced last week on Twitter. One tweet claimed Alternative Press interviewed multiple women who shared personal stories regarding the singer sexually assaulting and raping them. Furthermore, another tweet claimed Alternative Press didn’t run the story because they feared being sued by Austin and his lawyers.
These women sat & told @AltPress in gruesome detail their accounts of rape at his hands. There's so many victims. I sat in on a few of these conversations & I know they were told about the assaults by the women themselves. Multiple women. I still have the messages between us all.
— Father Jonathan Stiffler (@jdstiffler) June 8, 2020
In his official statement released today, Austin denies all allegations against him saying that in his younger years he “wasn’t the best person” and goes on to say that he never “physically abused, preyed upon, forced myself upon, or drugged any woman”. He claims that these statements are “decade old claims” that are “unfounded”. He goes on to say, “These ‘accusations’ being thrown around on social media, in our current ‘cancel culture’ climate are extremely heinous and completely without merit.”
Alternative Press CEO and founder Mike Shea released a statement on their website last week where they apologize to the survivors who may have felt silenced by them and essentially say they are making the necessary changes now and taking responsibility for their actions while apologizing for their mistake. Shea explains that based on journalistic ethics, the story didn’t “check all the boxes” that journalists must check. Excerpts from the statement are as follows:
“The Austin Carlile story was never kept ‘under wraps.’...During the period that the allegations surfaced and an investigation began, accusations and scenarios came to light. From the information that we have been able to review, these claims were not verifiable by sources or through official legal documentation (formal complaints, police reports, witnesses, etc). In addition, some of the individuals we spoke to had changed their position on the story or involvement for a variety of reasons. At several points during the investigations, additional sources who were willing to go on record to corroborate events went silent, canceled interviews, and stopped responding to our follow-ups. There were also people who refused to talk to us at the time who are now saying online they were never approached…
It doesn’t mean the allegations against Austin Carlile are not true. Simply put, we didn’t know all the truth, so we couldn’t tell all the truth. We couldn’t get full cooperation from enough witnesses at the time to get to the truth. We cannot run an allegation without proper and complete vetting as it could open the company to lawsuits.”
They also tweeted this last week and have since deleted it, claiming that these victims’ stories will be heard:
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If you or anyone you know is a victim of sexual assault call the National Sexual Assault Hotline at (1-800-656-4673) or contact them on their online chat services. No voice should be silenced.