‘All Time Low’ Respond After Numerous Sexual Abuse Allegations Against Guitarist Jack Barakat Surface
Some say it's a result of the problematic pop-punk culture.
Kathy Hutchins / Shutterstock.com TikTok user (@mini.grew) posted a video describing an experience she had with an unnamed pop-punk band where they invited her onto their tour bus when she was 13.
In the comments of the video on the now-private account, she hints that it’s All Time Low by saying that they “write songs about champagne and kids,” — a possible nod to “Poppin’ Champagne,” a popular All Time Low song.
All Time Low responded to the allegations, causing a stir among people who have also brought up previous allegations and the band’s questionable behavior.
All Time Low is being accused of grooming and sexually abusing teenage fans.
The original TikTok was of mini.grew looking at the camera in increasing disbelief with the caption, “me telling everyone about how a famous pop punk band let me on their tour bus when I was 13 and people tell me how nice it was of them.”
The message is that people shouldn’t think it’s nice of them but should realize how strange it is for a group of adults to invite a young teenager onto their tour bus.
In the comments, she elaborates on what exactly happened to prove that it was concerning behavior, saying “they literally tried to take my bra for their nasty collection & offered me beers. They got my friends phone number and prank called her for months.”
Some people are very skeptical about the claims being made, saying that the fact that she never mentions the band’s name.
Twitter user (@raartchael) points out that several bands have written songs about champagne and use the word “kids” in the title.
“Fall Out Boy has a song galled ‘Champagne For My Real Friends’ and ‘The Kids Aren’t Alright’,” they said, “and there’s plenty of pop punk bands I don’t know.”
All Time Low are denying the accusations.
All Time Low, however, has responded to the allegations recently despite the controversy surrounding their validity.
“We are investigating further the source of these false accusations, and will be seeking legal recourse as we take these allegations very seriously,” they wrote in a long message that was posted to their Twitter yesterday evening.
They said that the reason they hadn’t responded sooner was “because of the glaring inconsistencies in the story” and that “a response would have elevated and escalated an outright lie.”
This caused Twitter to erupt into a storm of previous accusations and situations where people recalled the band’s questionable behaviors at their shows.
Jack Barakat has been accused of assaulting underage women.
Across Twitter, accusations against lead guitarist, Jack Barakat, have been circulating including from a woman who claims she was groomed and abused by him across many different encounters when she was 15 years old.
Twitter user Kelly Blaus (@kellyblaus) made a thread describing what was wrong with their statement and why it might incriminate them further.
Blaus mentions how it took them a while to respond, and when they did they took an aggressively defensive approach, even attacking the accuser.
They failed to apologize for previous transgressions and things they can’t deny like making inappropriate sexual remarks towards crowds of young teenagers without promising to do better in the future and prevent anything like that from happening again.
She also throws in a series of testimonies from people on Twitter or anonymous stories about Jack Barakat, one of the members, sexually abusing people and openly dating then-17-year-old Abigail Breslin when he was 25.
A lot of people also defended the band members by sharing their stories about how they’ve never made inappropriate comments and how Alex Gaskarth once stopped a show to tell off an audience member who was trying to hit a woman.
The controversy has certainly damaged their image regardless of the outcome of the legal action they wish to take, and it’s undeniable that their actions in the past may have harmed their fans.
Isaac Serna-Diez is a writer who focuses on entertainment and news, social justice, and politics. Follow him on Twitter here.