This is not a fun story to write about.
Gaza frontman Jon Parkin has been accused of raping a woman.
We have been inundated with emails about this, so we felt like we should report on this and I am being as unbiased as possible here.
Last night, a Tumblr user "amindfullofoyu" posted a detailed account of an altercation with Gaza frontman Jon Parkin in September of last year, where she alledges that Parkin raped her. She painted a picture of her and Parkin hanging out in her bed, and Parkin trying to make advances and her rejecting him and then claims she woke up to Parkin inside of her:
I trusted him because we had talked pretty extensively about rape and consent before this night and he knew I planned the SlutWalk in Boise. So I went to sleep and he did too. We weren’t cuddling, opposite sides of the bed. I woke up 2 hours later from a dead sleep to him thrusting inside me. I was half asleep and thought it was a dream for about 30 seconds before I realized what was going on.
As soon as I was awake I knew I was being raped. I told him to stop and tried to push him away. My skirt and underwear were off (I have no memory of this). I curled up into a ball, violently shaking. “What’s wrong, don’t feel good?” “Yeah… thats it” I replied coldly. Then I said, “You can’t just start shit with people who are asleep”. Thats when he got really fucking scary. He was cowering over me (if you’ve never seen him, he’s HUGE, well over 6 feet) and said “what the fuck are you accusing me of?” I decided that trying to argue/fight him would probably end up in physical pain or being raped further so I deescalated the situation and told him to go back to sleep, which he did.
The accuser has said she will not go to the police because she feels they will ignore her claims. Instead, she requests that Parkin publicly apologize and step down from Gaza.
Earlier today, Parkin posted a message on the official GAZA Facebook page vehemently denying the claims:
We have worked hard to establish a good reputation for almost ten years now and we're not about to let an errant accusation unravel that. For those quick to judge, I ask how you would feel if you were forced to face such an accusation? There is no perfect way to handle this, but we're going to take every measure to preserve the most important thing we've created in that time; our reputation. We take this very seriously. The last sentence in Jon's statement is one that cannot be stressed enough.
From Jon:
"Let me first say that this rape allegation is entirely untrue. Throwing this sort of accusation up on the internet is reckless and completely slanderous. Two of my very close friends have been raped and it was devastating to watch them go through the recovery process, one of which I spent a summer helping through counseling. I went with her to the clinic to get her AIDS test results. Rape infuriates me, and I never see red like I do when I hear about it. This is not a subject or an accusation I take lightly. Anyone who knows me personally knows that I could never and would never force myself on anybody.
I'm sorry that you all have to be part of this drama, but this has to be addressed. This mess in no way has anything to do with the band and I'm sorry for the other members as this is a black mark on us that is undeserved and untrue. Women’s rights and all forms of social justice are causes we champion. I would encourage this person as well as any other who feel they have been assaulted to go immediately to the police."
Needless to say, it's hard to pick a side here, because it's simply a case of he said/she said. Rape is a very serious accusation and should not be taken lightly.
We have met Parkin on multiple occasions and dare say that we consider him a friend of Metal Injection and for us personally, this seems like an incredibly out-of-character thing to do for the towering Gaza frontman. But again, we were not there, and do not want to diminish this woman's claims if she was in fact raped.
For her part, the accuser claims she has a text message from Jon where he apologized for the incident, but she has yet to release it.
