On Tony Ortega’s Substack blog The Underground Bunker—a website devoted to exposing Scientologists—yesterday, it was reported that Lemonheads frontman Evan Dando sent a fan unsolicited videos of himself masturbating on multiple occasions. According to the article, the victim (using the pseudonym Dawn) and Dando corresponded “about art” on X. “Those exchanges were years ago, and she believes they were public, although she says they may have used direct messages at one point,” Ortega wrote. When the Lemonheads shared their recent album Love Chant in October 2025, the victim sent Dando a congratulating DM to no reply. “Then, this past Thursday evening (February 6), she checked her account and found that she had a DM from Dando that had been sent the day before.”
Dando’s message read: “Cool I’m sorry I’m an exhibitionist.” According to Ortega, the victim responded, “Don’t ever apologize for being you, my friend. Always be unapologetic. And you,” and included a heart emoji. The next morning, the victim received more messages on X from Dando, one of them a video of the musician “sitting in a basement or something, and he’s fully masturbating,” she recalled. “You can see his penis, and his face. It’s definitely him. He’s filming it from a weird angle.” The messages that accompanied the unsolicited DM read: “Would it be cool if I sent you an ‘ art ‘ photo ?” and “Can I send you a photo ?” Dando posted other photos on his X profile that day wearing the same shirt he’s wearing in the explicit video. The victim and her husband took screenshots of her correspondence with Dando, which Ortega included SFW versions of in his artice.
A day later, Dando returned to the victim’s DMs, forwarding her a photo of him wearing a dress and another video of him masturbating, in the same shirt and basement-like setting as displayed in the first video. “In this one, he’s got what looks like a joint in his mouth,” Ortega wrote. Dando followed the video with two messages: “Ok sorry thanks I just need an outlet” and “Cheers.” According to Ortega, the victim reached out to TMZ’s tip line but didn’t receive a response. She wrote about her experience on Threads and, when she and her husband returned to X to screen-record Dando’s second video, they saw that Dando had deleted his account. Ortega confirmed that he sent emails to Dando’s manager and publicists requesting comments but initially received none. Dando’s X account was restored on February 11.
Now that the story is circulating across multiple outlets, like Pitchfork and Rolling Stone, a representative has issued a statement for Dando: “Evan Dando has long struggled with mental health issues dating back to his childhood. He’s been admitted to a local hospital where he’s receiving comprehensive help from experienced doctors and mental health professionals.” Dando wrote about his cocaine and heroin addiction, deteriorating health, and mental illness history in his 2025 memoir, Rumours of My Demise. When Love Chant came out last year, Dando claimed he was sober. “It’s so gross,” the victim said. “I don’t want him to do this to anyone else. It’s just a gross feeling.”
If you or someone you know has been a victim of inappropriate sexual behavior, we recommend reaching out to the RAINN Hotline (1-800-656-4673) or Crisis Text Line (Text “HERE” to 741-741) for support.
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