Joan Jett has issued a statement on the recent revelation that fellow Runaways member Jackie Fox was sexually assaulted by Kim Fowley after a band show.
Fox said, in a lengthy article posted yesterday by the Huffington Post, that she was forced to take a number of quaaludes after a New Year’s Eve show at Wild Man Sam’s in Orange County, CA. Heavily drugged and unable to defend herself, she was aware of group manager Kim Fowley offering her to other men before raping her himself.
In the story, Fox says that she saw both Joan Jett and Cherie Currie in the room during the attack but Jett had said she wasn’t there.
Today, Jett reiterated her recollection of the situation in a statement.
“Anyone who truly knows me understands that if I was aware of a friend or bandmate being violated, I would not stand by while it happened. For a group of young teenagers thrust into 70s rock stardom there were relationships that were bizarre, but I was not aware of this incident.
“Obviously Jackie’s story is extremely upsetting and although we haven’t spoken in decades, I wish her peace and healing.”
Also on Friday, Eveyln McDonnell, author of the 2013 book Queens of Noise, wrote at length about the story, calling into question parts of it. She did write about the incident in her book but did not firmly know the victim and, now that Fox has come forward, she is not disputing her claims; however, she is questioning some of the parts of the story.
I have issues with the story’s sometimes sensationalist tone, the reporter’s methods, and some of the response to it online – particularly the way other women tangential to this story (including Joan Jett and myself) are also being targeted and blamed, by men.
McDonnell then goes on, at length, about what she did and did not know, what people had told her about that night and how she feels she is also being victimized by the current situation.
She also defends Jett and her statement that she was not aware of the incident.
Jett told me while writing Queens that she had absolutely no memory of the incident as described in Neon Angel; her spokesperson told the HP the same thing. Joan is taking some heat online for not speaking out about this. While I would certainly like to hear from her, attacking her as somehow complicit because she hasn’t released a statement is unfair. Jackie herself did not speak about this until now. Joan was also 16, perhaps stoned, possibly traumatized. She is not the villain here.
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