Fans allege indie artist BØRNS (aka: Garrett Borns) of sexual misconduct, manipulation and harassment
We figured it wouldn’t take long before more musicians were outed for sexual misconduct, even in an industry whose motto “sex, drugs and rock’n’roll” is as old as the day Elvis Presley first shook his hips.
Next in line for the guillotine is Garrett Borns, better known as indie rock act BØRNS, who has had a slew of allegations thrown at him via social media, mostly from teenage fans.
“BØRNS has been a manipulator, horrible ‘friend’ and user,” wrote Twitter user @kaliforxnia
Tweets began circulating on September 21, with young women describing incidents in which BØRNS lead them into conversations through Snapchat and Instagram that eventually turned into unwanted sexual encounters.
“BØRNS has been a manipulator, horrible ‘friend’ and user,” wrote Twitter user @kaliforxnia (aka: Nia) in one of the first tweets that went viral. Nia added, “He ignored my messages because I said no to going to his hotel room.”
Another Twitter user @alyssaadaniele (aka: Lyss), who was 16 at the time of her alleged encounter with BØRNS (the legal age for consent in the US is 17), stated: “He would ask me to send specific pictures and videos of myself, and I did. He asked me to, so I did, and if I didn’t he would beg, or ghost me if I refused. I tried to normalize things so many times, but it always led back into the sick lustful conversations that he used me for.”
Both women described BØRNS’ behaviour as “aggressive” and reported feeling “manipulated” while being afraid they’d lose what they perceived to be rapport-building with a musician they looked up to.
Garrett Borns, now 26, is denying all allegations of sexual misconduct, manipulation and harassment made by the various women.
“I am both hurt and angered over the disturbing and false allegations that have been spread over the past few days on social media,” he wrote in an Instagram post. “All of the relationships I had were legal and consensual. They ended abruptly and that obviously caused hurt feelings, but for anyone to suggest anything beyond that is irresponsible.” Antonino Tati & Lisa Andrews
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