While Hollywood is going through a very public reckoning regarding sexual abuse and harassment, the movement to expose abusers has begun to take hold in other mediums as well. Just this weekend, DC Comics suspended a longtime editor over sexual harassment allegations, and on Friday a woman named Nicole Elizabeth Garey came forward with allegations that Brand New frontman Jesse Lacey solicited naked photos from her when she was just 15 and he was 24. Uproxx reports that she says Lacey also had her watch him masturbate over Skype, and a former guitar tech for Brand New suggested that Lacey had a reputation for sexual misconduct like that.
On Saturday night, Lacey shared a statement on Brand New’s Facebook page, implying that the accusations were true and apologizing for the “pain and harm” he caused to “a number of people.” He says he was “selfish, narcissistic, and insensitive” in the past and he “developed a dependent and addictive relationship with sex” that “grew into a consistent and terrible problem.” He says he eventually sought help through counseling and therapy, explaining that he has since tried to change his life in “real and important ways.”
He closes his statement by saying that “none of us get to put a wall up between who we are and who we were,” admitting that he needs to “earn forgiveness.” You can read the full statement below.