The Indie Rocker Accused of Sexually Abusing Young Fans
Publish date: 2024-06-06
The Indie Rocker Accused of Sexually Abusing Young Fans Skip to Main Content 
","type":"Social","width":552,"height":null,"content":"https://www.facebook.com/aliceglass/posts/10154737801432136","success":true,"version":"1.0","author_url":"https://www.facebook.com/aliceglass/","author_name":"Alice Glass","provider_url":"https://www.facebook.com","responseType":"rich","provider_name":"Facebook","socialChecked":"facebook"}]],"markups":[["em"],["a",["href","http://www.nme.com/list/the-top-100-greatest-albums-of-the-decade-1381"]],["a",["href","https://www.rollingstone.com/music/pictures/lollapalooza-through-the-years-10-iconic-moments-in-style-20110809/sonic-youth-0433061"]],["a",["href","https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P8REB2YYkVM"]],["a",["href","https://www.rollingstone.com/music/news/crystal-castles-break-up-20141008"]],["a",["href","http://www.alice-glass.com/cc/"]],["a",["href","https://pitchfork.com/news/alice-glass-accuses-crystal-castles-co-founder-ethan-kath-of-rape-and-assault/"]],["a",["href","https://www.buzzfeed.com/claudiarosenbaum/crystal-castles-singer-ethan-kath-sues-alice-glass-over"]],["a",["href","https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BkbCUIm21rc"]],["a",["href","https://www.facebook.com/pictureplane/posts/1688757071187015"]],["a",["href","https://www.thedailybeast.com/ethan-kath-of-crystal-castles-being-investigated-for-sexual-assault-police-confirm"]],["a",["href","https://www.thedailybeast.com/heres-how-celebrity-twitter-accounts-are-getting-hacked"]],["a",["href","https://www.facebook.com/aliceglass"]],["a",["href","https://www.thestar.com/news/canada/2018/02/10/canadian-musicians-court-motion-draws-on-metoo-movement.html"]],["a",["href","https://www.theguardian.com/music/2008/sep/23/crystal.castles.resolve.copyright.issues"]],["a",["href","http://web.archive.org/web/20110511030413/http:/www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/music/features/crystal-castles--things-get-out-of-control-949494.html"]],["a",["href","http://www.telegraph.co.uk/music/news/crystal-castles-ethan-kath-has-denied-claims-bandmate-alice/"]],["a",["href","https://www.facebook.com/aliceglass/posts/10154737801432136"]],["a",["href","https://pitchfork.com/news/59294-crystal-castles-arent-dead-return-with-frail/"]],["a",["href","https://www.thedailybeast.com/the-metoo-movement-shows-its-more-than-just-a-hashtag"]]],"version":"0.3.0","sections":[[1,"p",[[0,[],0,"In 2002, Alice Glass met Ethan Kath."]]],[1,"p",[[0,[],0,"Alice’s real name is Margaret Osborn and Ethan’s is Claudio Palmieri although, at the time, he was just as likely to go by one of his early pseudonyms: Ethan Deth or Ethan Cawke. When Alice and Ethan met she was in 10th grade, and he was performing around Ontario in his old band, Kill Cheerleader. In 2005 Kath started a new project, Crystal Castles, and eventually asked Glass to join him on vocals. "]]],[1,"p",[[0,[],0,"From then until 2012, according to Glass and unbeknownst to their fans, they were romantically involved. Meanwhile, propelled by Glass’ thrashing, magnetic performances, Crystal Castles grew its fan base and achieved mainstream recognition. Their rigorous touring schedule took them all over the world, headlining shows and festivals. "],[0,[0],1,"NME"],[0,[],0," "],[0,[1],1,"dubbed Crystal Castles"],[0,[],0," one of the top 100 greatest albums of the decade in 2009. "],[0,[0],1,"Rolling Stone "],[0,[2],1,"praised"],[0,[],0," the “gleeful venom” of the band’s live performances, “thanks mainly to front woman’s Alice Glass’s fearless stage histrionics and savagely cool personal style.” That same year, Crystal Castles took home the John Peel Award for Innovation at the NME awards—"],[0,[3],1,"an award"],[0,[],0," “only given out occasionally, by NME’s editors, when they come across that rare thing, an act who possess a pioneering spirit and an uncompromising approach to music.”"]]],[1,"p",[[0,[],0,"Despite the band’s success, in October 2014, Glass announced in a brief "],[0,[4],1,"statement"],[0,[],0," that she would be leaving Crystal Castles to pursue a solo career. For many fans, it was the first indication of discord within the band. But for Glass, as she tells it, it was the culmination of years of alleged sexual assault, manipulation, and physical and emotional abuse."]]],[1,"p",[[0,[],0,"In a "],[0,[5],1,"lengthy statement"],[0,[],0," released last October, Glass wrote that Kath “took advantage” of her for the first time when she was 15. Until 2008, the legal age of consent in Canada was 14. It has since been raised to 16."]]],[1,"p",[[0,[],0,"“He was 10 years older than me,” she "],[0,[5],1,"wrote."],[0,[],0," “I came to in the back of his car extremely intoxicated (from drinks he had given me that night). We didn’t talk for months after that. He went to great lengths to find me again, stalking me and driving past my high school looking for me. He tracked me down and showed up places I was hanging out and we eventually reconnected. I was very young and naive and in a compromised position in my life. I perceived him as a local rock star because I had seen his band, Kill Cheerleader, on TV.”"]]],[1,"p",[[0,[],0,"After Glass and Kath officially joined forces as Crystal Castles in 2006, Alice "],[0,[5],1,"alleges that"],[0,[],0," Ethan became both physically and emotionally abusive: “I wasn’t allowed to have my own phone or my own credit card, he decided who my friends were, read through my private emails, restricted my access to social media, regulated everything I ate. He berated me and yelled at me, telling me that I was a joke, that all the people that came to our shows were only interested in his instrumentals and that I was ruining the band. He broke glass shower doors to frighten me, he locked me into rooms. He told me that my feminism made me a target for rapists and only he could protect me. He forced me to have sex with him or, he said, I wouldn’t be allowed to be in the band anymore.”"]]],[10,0],[1,"p",[[0,[],0,"In response to Glass’ accusations, Kath released a "],[0,[6],1,"statement"],[0,[],0," via his attorney: “I am outraged and hurt by the recent statements made by Alice about me and our prior relationship,” he said. “Her story is pure fiction and I am consulting my lawyers as to my legal options. Fortunately, there are many witnesses who can and will confirm that I was never abusive to Alice.” "]]],[1,"p",[[0,[],0,"In November, Kath filed a defamation suit against Glass and her boyfriend Jupiter Keyes. The lawsuit accused Glass of releasing “false and malicious lies to the online world,” stating, “as a result, Crystal Castles has suffered irreparable damage, the very least of which was the ca"],[0,[],0,"ncellation of Plaintiff’s North America tour.” Kath estimated that the tour’s cancellation had cost him $300,000 in profits. “Aside from the lost revenue due to the tour being cancelled,” Kath’s suit continued, “both Palmieri and Crystal Castles have suffered irreparable harm to their reputation and goodwill.”"]]],[1,"p",[[0,[],0,"In a "],[0,[7],1,"statement"],[0,[],0," at the time of Kath’s lawsuit, Kath’s attorney Shane Bernard said, “My client categorically denies all the malicious lies about sexual abuse. At no time did my client ever force Alice Glass into having sex with him against her will, much less by use of violence or drugs to take advantage of her.” "]]],[1,"p",[[0,[],0,"In her first interview published since the statement, Glass described to The Daily Beast how no one around her during her time in the band appeared to question Kath’s behavior. Watching Kath remain unchallenged taught Glass not to challenge either, she said. "]]],[1,"p",[[0,[],0,"“I didn’t have anyone to talk about this stuff with,” Glass recalled. “I had a crew of people that he approved to be there. He’s not going to let anyone go on the road with us that hadn’t been approved by him and they had to be fine with turning a blind eye to the way he’d treat me. Or if they stood up for me or showed any concern he would target them in some weird way. I never really understood what was going on but any crew member who wasn’t under his thumb wouldn’t stick around for very long. So I pretty much felt like no one cared about the things he was doing to me. It normalized it for me.”"]]],[10,1],[1,"p",[[0,[],0,"That isn’t to say that no one noticed—the actor Peter Davis, who appeared in Crystal Castles’ 2012 "],[0,[8],1,"music video for “Suffocation,”"],[0,[],0," told The Daily Beast that Kath made the shoot “miserable” for everyone, but “most of all” for Glass. "]]],[1,"p",[[0,[],0,"“Basically Ethan was a control freak and ordered Alice around nonstop in a very mean way as if she was a child who could not do anything for herself,” he explained, noting, “It was quite apparent from the start that Ethan did not want myself or any male anywhere near Alice.” "]]],[1,"p",[[0,[],0,"The musician Pictureplane "],[0,[9],1,"posted about his experiences"],[0,[],0," on Crystal Castles’ “final tour” on social media in late October as well, writing, “Ethan and Alice were not speaking to each other and we were all on the same tour bus. It was surreal.”"]]],[1,"p",[[0,[],0,"After releasing the statement about her alleged abuse, Glass says she was contacted by multiple women about their own experiences with Kath. The Daily Beast spoke with Glass and four more of Kath’s alleged victims. Together, the five accusers described a spectrum of behavior from “grooming” to nonconsensual sex and physical abuse. Their allegations paint a pattern of targeting fans aged 14 to 19—fans who recall being initially shocked and flattered to be noticed by an older musician they admired. "]]],[1,"p",[[0,[],0,"In December, the Toronto Police Service "],[0,[10],1,"confirmed with The Daily Beast"],[0,[],0," that there is an open Sex Crimes unit investigation against Kath. Citing the investigation and his lawsuit against Glass, Kath’s attorney told The Daily Beast he has advised his client not to comment on the five women’s allegations. "]]],[1,"p",[[0,[],0,"“However,” he continued, “I would like to note that my review of the statements of these persons show that their allegations are untrue, misleading, and made solely with the intent to support the false and defamatory comments of the Defendant. It is not a coincidence, especially in light of the ages of the alleged acts, that these individuals are only coming forward now."]]],[1,"p",[[0,[],0,"“It should also be stated that my client has not engaged in sex acts with anyone under the age of consent and failure to state such will force us to take any and all legal actions available in order to clear my client’s name.”"]]],[10,2],[1,"p",[[0,[],0,"In 2002, Sarah* met Ethan Kath at a film shoot in Toronto. "]]],[1,"p",[[0,[],0,"His band, which went by the name Cheerleader at the time, was playing a set for the film. Sarah told The Daily Beast that she approached him as a fan and struck up a conversation, in which she remembers Kath “specifically” asking her age. She was 14 at the time. He was 24. "]]],[1,"p",[[0,[],0,"The two formed a “friendship” and began emailing back and forth, Sarah said."],[0,[],0," "],[0,[],0,"Citing her “admiration for the band,” she said she went to “all the shows [she] could” from August 2002 to early 2003, but found herself increasingly uncomfortable with the nature of their exchanges."]]],[1,"p",[[0,[],0,"Sarah still has a host of teenage ephemera that The Daily Beast reviewed—pictures of her younger self in heavy eyeliner, posing with friends at shows and with Kath backstage. In her handwritten diaries and date-stamped LiveJournal entries from 2002, photos of which The Daily Beast also reviewed, Sarah chronicles multiple interactions with Kath."],[0,[],0," In one entry, dated August 2002, she writes, “I had to touch Ethan’s ‘breast’ for a picture.” "],[0,[],0,"In another, she archives his response to an email she sent him for his 25th birthday: “Thxxxxxxx you’re wicked for remembering x.” "]]],[1,"p",[[0,[],0,"Sarah said she sees that birthday note as a turning point, recalling, “I started to feel pathetic and started to understand the inappropriateness of what was going on. I found a boyfriend my own age, and stopped going to see Cheerleader.” There is one photo missing from her documentation, however: the one Sarah says Kath told her “not to show anyone.”"]]],[1,"p",[[0,[],0,"To celebrate her 15th birthday, Sarah’s parents drove her to a Cheerleader show in Kitchener, Ontario. After the show, she says Kath told her to come with him to take a picture."]]],[1,"p",[[0,[],0,"“He brought me backstage into a dark area, grabbed a blowup doll, told me to hold it, proceeded to lick my face and take the picture,” Sarah recalled. “I did not consent to this and honestly, I just remember freezing and believing I was lucky to receive the attention even though I felt it was wrong.” Sarah hid the disposable camera photo for years, and eventually destroyed it. "]]],[1,"p",[[0,[],0,"A friend who attended that Kitchener show with Sarah remembered seeing the photo. She described it to The Daily Beast: “Sarah looking to the camera, I think making a ‘rock out’ hand signal, and I think Ethan on her left, tongue fully out licking the side of her face.” She also confirmed that Sarah and Ethan stayed in touch between shows, telling The Daily Beast."]]],[1,"p",[[0,[],0,"Another friend of Sarah’s at the time claimed to have seen the picture as well. “I remember it mostly because I found it uncomfortable,” she told The Daily Beast, adding, “A lot of things about Ethan were uncomfortable for me. I didn’t like that all his friends were our age as he was much older. That was unsettling to me.” She emphasized that “the band Cheerleader was Sarah’s calling back in high school... She thought Ethan cared about her feelings, she told me all the time.”"]]],[1,"p",[[0,[],0,"Sarah has shared parts of her experiences with Kath with Alice Glass."]]],[10,3],[1,"p",[[0,[],0,"A track from Kill Cheerleader’s 2004 album, "],[0,[0],1,"All Hail"],[0,[],0,", is titled “So Young.” The lyrics taunt, “She’s 17 and she’s all over me / Just 17, she’s way too young for me… Tell me you want it too (so young) / Tell me you wanna go? (you’re so young).” "]]],[10,4],[1,"p",[[0,[],0,"In 2005, Dana Wright met Ethan Kath online. "]]],[1,"p",[[0,[],0,"He messaged her on "],[0,[11],1,"Myspace"],[0,[],0," from an account under the name Kill Cheerleader, she told The Daily Beast. (An email Myspace sent to Wright confirms that the account “Kill Cheerleader” requested her as a friend in October 2005). She was 15 at the time; her age was displayed in her profile. The week of her 16th birthday, Wright claims Kath suggested they “hang out and celebrate.” At the time, the legal age of consent in Canada was 14."]]],[1,"p",[[0,[],0,"“He picked me up, and we went to my high school friend’s kegger party,” she recalled. “What fucking 29-year-old goes to a grade 10 kegger party?” Wright remembers they eventually left the party, and that Kath pulled out a blanket from the trunk of his car. He “made a move” on her: “I didn’t know what to do, I wasn’t expecting it or anything, and I just went with it.”"]]],[1,"p",[[0,[],0,"Wright remembers telling herself that Kath’s attention made her “so mature and so cool.”"]]],[1,"p",[[0,[],0,"“That’s how I rationalized it, what I thought was normal at the time,” she said. “And so I just let him control the situation. He put the blanket down and had sex with me on the ground and then dropped me off back home.” "]]],[1,"p",[[0,[],0,"For the next five years, Wright continued to see Kath, who took her to “by-the-hour motels” and empty apartments “with nothing but a dirty mattress on the floor.” Despite their years-long relationship, Kath remained largely inaccessible to her: “I could never contact him, I could never see him when I wanted to, he would just be reaching out to me from random numbers, calling me from pay phones and stuff. And so I would, like, freak out and have to answer whenever a random number was calling, because it would mean it was him."]]],[1,"p",[[0,[],0,"“The bottom line is that he basically lured me on the internet when I was 15 years old,” she said, adding that she feels her teenage years were “stolen” from her."]]],[1,"p",[[0,[],0,"Wright, who is a musician, continued to have a working relationship with Kath after ending their sexual relationship. Working with him on her music helped her rationalize what she endured, she said. But she eventually broke off their professional relationship, citing Kath’s desire to “control every little thing.” "]]],[1,"p",[[0,[],0,"She told The Daily Beast, “He started to try to tell me, like, what to wear and that I should wear baggier clothes,” insisting she could not earn respect if she presented herself as “sexual.” Wright shared screenshots of Facebook messages that she claimed were from Kath. In the messages, which she screenshot when they were sent in or around 2014, the user’s display name is the title of Crystal Castles’ 2012 album"],[0,[0],1," III."],[0,[],0," The user urges Wright to “lose the sexual thing,” adding that “when girls are too sexual everyone thinks sex is all they have to offer.” "]]],[1,"p",[[0,[],0,"A friend who met Wright when she was 18 confirmed she knew about their relationship and that Kath had helped Wright with her music. She echoed Dana’s dissatisfaction with that arrangement, claiming he was “not understanding her artistic integrity.”"]]],[10,5],[1,"p",[[0,[],0,"The Daily Beast also spoke to a woman who commented on a Facebook post about Kath, writing that as a 14-year-old, she knew him to be dating a teenage girl in Toronto. The woman confirmed she was referring to Dana Wright (who later said she knew the woman as well), and said “everyone knew” Wright and Kath were involved. She added, “[Dana and I] spoke about it a few times and of course to teenage girls, dating a twentysomething is kind of cool so it didn’t raise any red flags back then the way it would now.” She recalled a fight that Kath got in over Wright outside of a venue in 2006, when Wright would have been 16."]]],[1,"p",[[0,[],0,"“I thought all this time that he was like my boyfriend and we were in love,” Wright said. “I had no idea even that he was with Alice the entire time. I never met her or spoke to her until recently. And he would never say anything about her, just tell me lots of lies about her and say bad things about her. When I read her statement that she released about, like, the abandoned apartment room, I started to be like, whoa, OK, wait, this guy has a pattern.”"]]],[1,"p",[[0,[],0,"In her statement, "],[0,[5],1,"Glass wrote"],[0,[],0,", “Over a period of many months, he gave me drugs and alcohol and had sex with me in an abandoned room at an apartment he managed. It wasn’t always consensual and he remained sober whenever we were together.”"]]],[1,"p",[[0,[],0,"Wright managed to get in touch with Glass after the release of her statement, recalling, “I never felt like I needed to speak to a person more in my life than the second that I read that.” She added, “It’s, like, nice to see someone put it all out there… You’re like, ‘OK, I’m not making this stuff up. This is real.’”"]]],[10,6],[1,"p",[[0,[],0,"In 2012, Leah* met Ethan Kath. A “fan of their band,” Leah wore a Crystal Castles shirt at an English festival when Kath approached her. He was 35 at the time. She was 16, the legal age of consent in England."]]],[1,"p",[[0,[],0,"They exchanged contact details and Kath suggested they meet up later, since he would be in the country a while. “And I kind of went along with it,” Leah recalled to The Daily Beast. “Looking back now, I feel like such a complete idiot for doing that. ’Cause I think I was far too young.”"]]],[1,"p",[[0,[],0,"Leah says she was in a “sexual relationship” with Kath for “about a year.” She described being “very torn” throughout the relationship and eventually ended it because “I wasn’t sure of my feelings, and I didn’t think that what we were doing was right, given my age and his age, and I think I kind of began to realize that it was more of a kind of grooming thing, as opposed to being in a proper, happy relationship.” She recalled, “I called him up and I just said, ‘I’m not sure I want to do this anymore,’ and I never saw him again.”"]]],[1,"p",[[0,[],0,"A year ago, Leah says that a mutual friend who knew about her relationship with Kath suggested that she contact Glass. The Daily Beast spoke to this friend, who said she met both Glass and Leah through Kath, whom she began “hanging out” with around 2010. She recalled being “a little shocked” when she first saw the couple together because Leah “honestly didn’t look older than 16.” She ceased contact with Kath in 2015 but says she ran into Leah and some of her friends at a bar “around a year ago,” where they spoke about Kath. "]]],[1,"p",[[0,[],0,"“She was sobbing for an hour and I had to take her to a back room to calm down,” she recalled. “Her friends all told me how much of a negative effect he had on her life, and how well she had been doing recently.” After that, she encouraged Leah to contact Glass. "]]],[1,"p",[[0,[],0,"Prior to speaking with Glass, Leah says her only knowledge of her came from what Kath told her. “I think what he said to me was that they had a romantic relationship in the past and then they’d broken up,” Leah recalled. “He’d never, ever told me… that he was continuing to have sex with her.”"]]],[1,"p",[[0,[],0,"Leah has been left to re-examine and reckon with a relationship that she says was “very pressing on my mind for a long time,” even after it ended. “I think me and my friends, we found it hard…” she said, trailing off. “I mean, I think some of them were properly able to distinguish that, you know, it was wrong of him to take advantage of me, considering my age. But then there was this aspect of like, oh, but he was in our favorite band, so… we can’t see clearly.”"]]],[1,"p",[[0,[],0,"The Daily Beast spoke with another friend of Leah’s, who confirmed that Leah and Kath met at a 2012 festival. She described their entire friend group as “massive fans of both Alice and Ethan,” and told The Daily Beast that the ensuing relationship “seemed very odd and unbelievable to us.” She continued, “Leah would tell us as a friend group how most meetings and dates went at first, telling us they’d listen to records, talk, get drunk—alcohol provided by him on account of Leah was not 18—and have sex.” "]]],[1,"p",[[0,[],0,"She concluded, “I feel she suffered greatly in the aftermath of it all. Many drunken nights were spent consoling and reassuring her that myself and our friends would never ever let him come anywhere near her again… but there was nothing we could have ever done to stop him. We were just teenage fans.”"]]],[10,7],[1,"p",[[0,[],0,"In 2013, Tash met Ethan Kath after a Crystal Castles show in Auckland. They were 19 at the time. (Tash asked to be identified only by their first name.)"]]],[1,"p",[[0,[],0,"Tash, whose Ticketmaster order history confirms that they bought tickets for the Jan. 15, 2013, show, met Kath backstage afterward and told him they “wanted to meet Alice.” According to Tash, Kath assured them that, “If we hung out with him, she would come out and meet us.” "]]],[1,"p",[[0,[],0,"Tash remembered Kath producing a bottle of vodka to drink backstage after the show. He focused his attention on Tash and allegedly encouraged them to drink. "]]],[1,"p",[[0,[],0,"“I repeatedly told him I wasn’t interested in him, that I was gay, and that I also had a girlfriend,” Tash recalled. “He would say things like, ‘Have you ever fucked with a guy? You can’t know you’re gay then. I bet you’d like it.’ But then also slip in stuff about how I seemed so cool for my age, flattering me pretty much—talking to me about how he thought if I started a band it would be really cool and I should send him demos.”"]]],[1,"p",[[0,[],0,"Kath accompanied Tash and a group of friends to a karaoke bar that night, where he bought Tash a drink. The Daily Beast spoke to the friend whom Tash attended the show with, who recalled Kath approaching the two of them backstage and bringing a bottle of vodka “which he was more than happy to let us drink straight from.” "]]],[1,"p",[[0,[],0,"“He was very touchy with Tash and insisted they go inside the bar where the gig had taken place, which they did,” she said. “At this point Tash was extremely inebriated, even falling straight on their face at one point before that. I remember he was feeling them up and kissing their neck, even kissing them on the lips. This was all after finding out Tash was gay and wouldn’t be interested in him if sober. After the bottle of vodka was done with, he said he wanted to take us out drinking to bars. At the bars he kept giving me, Tash, and another girl drinks. At the end of the night we ended up in a park, but by then Tash was unable to speak because they’d become so drunk.”"]]],[1,"p",[[0,[],0,"“I have only very vague memories of that part of the night,” Tash said. “Falling over in the street outside the bar, walking towards the stairs to the park as Ethan had his arm wrapped around me.”"]]],[1,"p",[[0,[],0,"Tash says Kath messaged them the next day—the messages, dated Jan. 16, 2013, are sent from a “Facebook User,” which means that the person who sent them has deleted or deactivated their account (Glass confirmed to The Daily Beast that Kath had a personal Facebook account). The Facebook user asked Tash how they’re feeling and mentioned, “We’re rushing off to Sydney” (according to Crystal Castles’ 2013 tour schedule, Sydney was their next stop). The Facebook User also sent a photo of Tash from that night, seemingly passed out, and wrote, “look what I found on my phone.”"]]],[1,"p",[[0,[],0,"A second friend who was at the Auckland show confirmed to The Daily Beast that “a bunch of us,” including Tash and Kath, were hanging out after the Crystal Castles gig. She said, “Ethan took a liking to Tash who was extremely inebriated. He kept insisting they run off and get some more alcohol and drink in a cemetery alone to which Tash constantly replied with, ‘No, I’m lesbian, I have a girlfriend.’” Tash’s friend said that Kath “kept pressing,” recalling “lots of hugging from behind.”"]]],[10,8],[1,"p",[[0,[],0,"Speaking to The Daily Beast by phone from Los Angeles, Alice Glass says that numerous other women reached out to her after she released two statements, one from October 2017 in which she "],[0,[5],1,"named Kath as her alleged abuser"],[0,[],0,", and a 2014 statement "],[0,[12],1,"announcing her departure"],[0,[],0," from the band. "]]],[1,"p",[[0,[],0,"“I think all of us were feeling so alone and lost with this, and so to think that we could have been communicating this entire time, it’s pretty painful,” she began. “But it’s been a powerful couple of months and I honestly don’t know where I would be without the support of other women who understand what I went through.”"]]],[1,"p",[[0,[],0,"Glass told The Daily Beast that “it’s been really hard to come to terms with” the idea that “some of the other victims were fans of mine, and that he would use me as a way to talk to some of these girls… In a way, I almost put them in danger just by their going to a Crystal Castles show."]]],[1,"p",[[0,[],0,"“A lot of the times I was just kind of happy [when] he wasn’t there,” she said of Kath. “I’m sure in the back of my head I was probably like, ‘Oh I bet he’s meeting other women,’ but I never would have thought…”"]]],[1,"p",[[0,[],0,"The Toronto police have only confirmed that they are investigating Claudio Palmieri, and he has not been charged. Wright is one of multiple alleged victims who reported her story to police in 2017. She has since been told that police are no longer investigating her claim, citing Canada’s age of consent (14) at the time of her allegations. Sarah also told The Daily Beast that she filed a report with the Toronto police, but her story is not currently being investigated due to the nature of her allegations. Police have not specified how many women have filed complaints against Kath. "]]],[1,"p",[[0,[],0,"Still, Glass"],[0,[],0," "],[0,[],0,"considers the day that she and other alleged victims spoke to the police to be a major step forward. “It just makes me sort of weepy thinking about how strong they were and how this is really going to change their lives for the better, and we’re all kind of in this together. It was just a really great day, even though the subject matter was so dark. It was really great.” She said she sees a pattern in Kath’s behavior: “I don’t see this stopping for him in the future.”"]]],[1,"p",[[0,[],0,"Wright, who said she has only recently begun to deal with the effects her time with Kath has had on her life, echoed Glass’ concerns: “Now that we know what he is and what he’s doing on a large scale, it’s really important to stop him.”"]]],[1,"p",[[0,[],0,"“I know how intimidating he can be and how relentless he is with trying to silence his victims and scare us,” Glass said. “But I do feel a lot of responsibility to show these other women that it’s going to be OK. No matter what happens I’m still going to carry on with my life, I’m not going to let him get to me. I know the truth, I know what happened. I don’t have anything to be ashamed of or embarrassed of, even if I’ve felt like that in the past. I feel like I can show the others that it’s OK to come forward.”"]]],[1,"p",[[0,[],0,"Glass added, “Any time that he was pretending to love me, it’s clear now what was happening—like, you say that you love me, but you’re hurting me and restricting my life and going out and hurting multiple other women.” "]]],[1,"p",[[0,[],0,"In her October "],[0,[5],1,"statement"],[0,[],0,", Glass detailed Kath’s allegedly controlling nature. “As we started to gain attention, he began abusively and systematically targeting my insecurities and controlling my behavior: my eating habits, who I could talk to, where I could go, what I could say in public, what I was allowed to wear,” she wrote. “He kept me from doing interviews or photoshoots unless he was in control of the situation. Our fame grew in Crystal Castles but he didn’t feel he was getting the recognition he thought he deserved. He became physically abusive. He held me over a staircase and threatened to throw me down it. He picked me up over his shoulders and threw me onto concrete. He took pictures of my bruises and posted them online.”"]]],[1,"p",[[0,[],0,"According to the "],[0,[13,0],2,"Toronto Star"],[0,[],0,", Kath has stated in legal documents that, “At no point during our relationship did I abuse [Glass] nor did I drug her in order to take advantage of her sexually.”"]]],[1,"p",[[0,[],0,"Crystal Castles "],[0,[14],1,"infamously emblazoned"],[0,[],0," their merchandise with artist Trevor Brown’s image of the “Bruised Madonna,” allegedly without "],[0,[14],1,"his permission"],[0,[],0,". In a 2008 interview, Kath insisted that using images of the pop star sporting a black eye was a feminist act. “We liked the Madonna image because we thought it was a symbol of a strong female, and that even though she has been battered, she is still standing and staring defiantly,” he told "],[0,[15,0],2,"The Independent"],[0,[],0,". “Nothing is going to knock her down. It’s a perfect symbol of a strong female.”"]]],[10,9],[1,"p",[[0,[],0,"If Glass’ allegations are true, they pose a question: How was Kath able to allegedly abuse his bandmate for so long, even as Crystal Castles toured, did press, worked with record labels and managers, and gained an international fan base? It’s a question Glass has been increasingly preoccupied with—how months-long tours turned into years and all the while no one seemed to notice, and no one intervened."]]],[1,"p",[[0,[],0,"Crystal Castles’ former manager James Sandom told "],[0,[0,16],1,"The Telegraph"],[0,[],1," "],[0,[],0,"last October, “I can offer no further insight to these accusations, during our time managing Crystal Castles whilst their professional relationship was occasionally volatile, their personal relationship was never fully clear.” "]]],[1,"p",[[0,[],0,"Glass says his comments struck a chord. In a subsequent "],[0,[17],1,"statement posted on social media"],[0,[],0,", Glass wrote that Sandom was “very aware that I was in a personal relationship with Claudio for years.” Her court filings include "],[0,[17],1,"a series of messages"],[0,[],0," from Sandom, dated 2012, in which he calls Kath’s behavior “domestic abuse,” writing, “He can’t do shit like this. He’ll end up in jail.” "]]],[10,10],[1,"p",[[0,[],0,"Glass told The Daily Beast, “James would tell me like, ‘I’m so worried about you, the way he treats you is awful it’s domestic abuse’ …And I remember him, when I was about to quit the band, sneaking me cell phones in 2012, but at the same time he continued to work with Claudio after I left despite knowing what I went through. And that was really depressing for me.”"]]],[1,"p",[[0,[],0,"Sandom did not respond to The Daily Beast’s multiple requests for comment."]]],[1,"p",[[0,[],0,"“I just assumed that these professionals were looking out for me, but they weren’t,” Glass said. “It was just about getting an easy 10 or 15 percent. And people ruthlessly lie to young women’s faces and say that they’re going to do whatever they can to protect them… I was signed on Universal, we were working with decently big booking agents, so I would assume that there would be something in place to protect the safety of their clients, but there really isn’t. There isn’t anything at all in place to protect vulnerable young women. In a lot of ways I guess that’s kind of the point for predators in the entertainment industry: We’re easy targets.”"]]],[1,"p",[[0,[],0,"What the entertainment industry needs, she said, is “some sort of union or protective service” for young women just starting out, “because we are just happy to get our work out there and to be able to make a living off our art and doing what we love, so a lot of us are going to do things that we wouldn’t be normally comfortable with—because we just don’t really know how the industry is supposed to work and you get pressured and coerced into things.”"]]],[1,"p",[[0,[],0,"According to court documents, Glass alleges that Kath “refused to sign a partnership agreement” and controlled all of the band’s finances. She claimed, “He berated me, yelled at me and caused me to doubt my talent and contribution to the band.” "]]],[1,"p",[[0,[],0,"When Kath "],[0,[18],1,"released"],[0,[],0," the first Crystal Castles song since Glass’ departure, he included a "],[0,[18],1,"backhanded note"],[0,[],0," aimed at her: “I wish my former vocalist the best of luck in her future endeavors. I think it can be empowering for her to be in charge of her own project. It should be rewarding for her considering she didn’t appear on Crystal Castles’ best known songs… People often gave her credit for my lyrics and that was fine, I didn’t care.”"]]],[1,"p",[[0,[],0,"Glass told The Daily Beast that she only learned about Kath’s November lawsuit after it appeared on TMZ. “We had to download the PDF of the lawsuit from "],[0,[7],1,"BuzzFeed"],[0,[],0,",” she said. On Nov. 18, she tweeted out a picture of her court summons, captioned, “Just got served after my show in Chicago by someone pretending to be a fan.” According to court documents, Kath previously sent Glass a cease and desist letter in 2014."]]],[1,"p",[[0,[],0,"Glass is confident the suit will be thrown out, since “everything I said was true.” She added, “You shouldn’t be able to waste everyone’s time and money to have a lawsuit that I’m going to win.”"]]],[1,"p",[[0,[],0,"According to the "],[0,[13,0],2,"Toronto Star"],[0,[],0,", Kath’s attorneys have countered Glass’ motion to dismiss his complaint. Kath’s team "],[0,[13],1,"argues that"],[0,[],0," Glass “timed her statement to coincide with the "],[0,[19],1,"MeToo"],[0,[],0," campaign, which has become a venue for a victim to claim abuse without any regard for the truth or veracity of the claims.” "]]],[1,"p",[[0,[],0,"Kath’s team has used as an exhibit a seemingly affectionate email from Glass to Kath written in 2012, as well as what they claim to be an entry from Glass’ diary. Glass’ lawyer has "],[0,[13],1,"responded that"],[0,[],0,", “To callously suggest these scattered, unrelated emails and texts, some of which are from third parties, proves the statement was false and/or the requisite element of actual malice is an affront to plaintiffs’ legal burden and victims everywhere.” "]]],[1,"p",[[0,[],0,"Glass believes that the post-show serving of her court summons was an intimidation tactic. She thinks Kath’s primary motivation was to “make my life harder for the next however many months,” as well as “to intimidate all of these women that probably don’t have access to a lawyer and so they’d be too scared to speak out if they think they’ll be sued for hundreds of thousands of dollars.” But at this point, she told The Daily Beast, “I refuse to be intimidated by him.” "]]],[1,"p",[[0,[],0,"She continued, “Things didn’t work out the way he thought they would, which would be me just cowering and crying in a little ball. He doesn’t know me anymore and I’m not a little girl anymore.”"]]],[1,"p",[[0,[0],1,"*Names have been changed to protect the identities of women wishing to remain anonymous."]]]]},"hero":{"image":{"id":"1541601","crops":{"1_1":{"x":0,"y":0,"width":1440,"height":1440},"16_9":{"x":0,"y":0,"width":2560,"height":1440},"original":{"x":0,"y":0,"width":2560,"height":1440},"blur":{"x":1270,"y":710,"width":20,"height":20}},"title":"","credit":"Photo Illustration by Sarah Rogers/The Daily Beast","mobiledoc_caption":null,"alt_text":null,"url":"https://img.thedailybeast.com/image/upload/v1518652734/180214-zimmerman-Crystal_Castles-tease_1_ms31rn.jpg","public_id":"180214-zimmerman-Crystal_Castles-tease_1_ms31rn","version":"1518652734","__typename":"Image"},"__typename":"Media","video":null},"accentColor":null,"audience":"public","autoBrandSafe":false,"autoIAB":[{"id":"640","category":"Television","score":0.6,"parentId":null,"parentIABCategory":null,"__typename":"AutoIABCategory"},{"id":"641","category":"Animation TV","score":0.35,"parentId":640,"parentIABCategory":{"id":"640","category":"Television","parentId":null,"parentIABCategory":null,"__typename":"AutoIABCategory"},"__typename":"AutoIABCategory"}],"autoKeywords":["daily beast","time","band","wright","sarah","glass","brief statement","crystal castles","ethan kath","legal age","alice glass","ethan cawke","leah","tash","headlining shows"],"autoSentiment":{"neutral":"0.55","positive":"0.2","negative":"0.25","__typename":"AutoSentiment"},"autoThreats":[{"id":"GGT3","confidence":"VERY_HIGH","category":"Drugs and alcohol","__typename":"AutoThreat"},{"id":"GGT1","confidence":"VERY_HIGH","category":"Violence and gore","__typename":"AutoThreat"},{"id":"GGT4","confidence":"VERY_HIGH","category":"Sexually charged","__typename":"AutoThreat"}],"canonicalSlug":"the-indie-rocker-accused-of-sexually-abusing-young-fans","crossPromotion":null,"dek":"In her first interview since accusing Crystal Castles ex-bandmate Ethan Kath of rape, Alice Glass voices support for women now coming forward with their own stories of his abuse.","description":"In her first interview since accusing Crystal Castles ex-bandmate Ethan Kath of rape, Alice Glass voices support for women now coming forward with their own stories of his abuse.","franchise":null,"id":"the-indie-rocker-accused-of-sexually-abusing-young-fans","longTitle":"The Indie Rocker Accused of Sexually Abusing Young Fans","modifiedDate":"2018-02-17T14:27:49.542Z","onHomepage":false,"publicationDate":"2018-02-17T03:42:38.000Z","rubric":"‘I’M NOT A LITTLE GIRL ANYMORE’","seoHeadline":"The Indie Rocker Accused of Sexually Abusing Young Fans","shortTitle":"The Indie Rocker Accused of Sexually Abusing Young Fans","socialHeadline":"","specialContentFlag":null,"subtype":"standard","subvertical":{"id":"18","slug":"music","name":"Music","description":null,"__typename":"Vertical"},"title":"The Indie Rocker Accused of Sexually Abusing Young Fans","type":"article","url":"https://www.thedailybeast.com/the-indie-rocker-accused-of-sexually-abusing-young-fans","vertical":{"id":"2","slug":"entertainment","name":"Entertainment","description":"Binge This","__typename":"Vertical"},"metadata":{"canonicalUrl":"https://www.thedailybeast.com/the-indie-rocker-accused-of-sexually-abusing-young-fans","metaTags":[{"content":"Amy Zimmerman","name":"cXenseParse:author","property":true},{"content":"music","name":"cXenseParse:tde-subvertical","property":false},{"content":"The Indie Rocker Accused of Sexually Abusing Young Fans","name":"cXenseParse:tde-shortHeadline","property":false},{"content":"Music,#metoo","extraAttributes":{"data-separator":","},"name":"cXenseParse:tde-keywords","property":false},{"content":"article","name":"cXenseParse:pageclass","property":false},{"content":"2018-02-17T14:27:49.542Z","name":"article:modified_time","property":true},{"content":"Music, #metoo","name":"keywords","property":false},{"content":"The Indie Rocker Accused of Sexually Abusing Young Fans","name":"og:title","property":true},{"content":"In her first interview since accusing Crystal Castles ex-bandmate Ethan Kath of rape, Alice Glass voices support for women now coming forward with their own stories of his abuse.","name":"og:description","property":true},{"content":"In her first interview since accusing Crystal Castles ex-bandmate Ethan Kath of rape, Alice Glass voices support for women now coming forward with their own stories of his abuse.","name":"description","property":false},{"content":"https://www.thedailybeast.com/the-indie-rocker-accused-of-sexually-abusing-young-fans","name":"og:url","property":true},{"content":"Amy Zimmerman","name":"authors","property":false},{"content":"/content/dailybeast/entertainment","name":"wrap","property":false},{"content":"entertainment","name":"article:section","property":true},{"content":"The Daily Beast","name":"og:site_name","property":true},{"content":"189930913679","name":"fb:app_id","property":true},{"content":"summary_large_image","name":"twitter:card","property":false},{"content":"@thedailybeast","name":"twitter:site","property":false},{"content":"@ahzimm","name":"twitter:creator","property":false},{"content":"https://img.thedailybeast.com/image/upload/c_crop,d_placeholder_euli9k,h_1440,w_2560,x_0,y_0/dpr_2.0/c_limit,w_600/f_jpg/fl_lossy,q_auto/v1518652734/180214-zimmerman-Crystal_Castles-tease_1_ms31rn","name":"twitter:image","property":false},{"content":"2018-02-17T03:42:38.000Z","name":"article:published_time","property":true},{"content":"2018-02-17T03:42:38.000Z","name":"sailthru.date","property":true},{"content":"2018-03-03T03:42:38.000Z","name":"sailthru.expire_date","property":true},{"content":"https://www.thedailybeast.com/authors/amy-zimmerman","name":"article:author","property":true}],"ogImages":[{"url":"https://img.thedailybeast.com/image/upload/c_crop,d_placeholder_euli9k,h_1440,w_2560,x_0,y_0/dpr_2.0/c_limit,w_740/fl_lossy,q_auto/v1518652734/180214-zimmerman-Crystal_Castles-tease_1_ms31rn"}],"productName":"oop","title":"The Indie Rocker Accused of Sexually Abusing Young Fans"},"section":{"external":false,"hideByline":false,"id":"entertainment","longTitle":"Entertainment","rubric":"","shortTitle":"Entertainment","specialContentFlag":"","title":"Entertainment","type":"wrap","url":"/category/entertainment"},"shareTools":{"emailShortUrl":"https://www.thedailybeast.com/the-indie-rocker-accused-of-sexually-abusing-young-fans?source=email&via=desktop","escapedDescription":"In her first interview since accusing Crystal Castles ex-bandmate Ethan Kath of rape, Alice Glass voices support for women now coming forward with their own stories of his abuse.","escapedTitle":"The Indie Rocker Accused of Sexually Abusing Young Fans","facebookShortUrl":"https://www.thedailybeast.com/the-indie-rocker-accused-of-sexually-abusing-young-fans?source=facebook&via=desktop","mailBodyDescription":"In her first interview since accusing Crystal Castles ex-bandmate Ethan Kath of rape, Alice Glass voices support for women now coming forward with their own stories of his abuse.","mailBodyTitle":"The Indie Rocker Accused of Sexually Abusing Young Fans","pageUrl":"https://www.thedailybeast.com/the-indie-rocker-accused-of-sexually-abusing-young-fans","shareButtons":[{"buttonHref":"https://www.reddit.com/submit?url=","buttonName":"SUBMIT","name":"reddit","renderHidden":true,"shareUrl":"https://www.thedailybeast.com/the-indie-rocker-accused-of-sexually-abusing-young-fans?via=desktop&social=Reddit"}],"shareToolsImage":"https://img.thedailybeast.com/image/upload/c_crop,d_placeholder_euli9k,h_1440,w_2560,x_0,y_0/dpr_2.0/c_limit,w_740/fl_lossy,q_auto/v1518652734/180214-zimmerman-Crystal_Castles-tease_1_ms31rn","shortUrl":"https://www.thedailybeast.com/the-indie-rocker-accused-of-sexually-abusing-young-fans","twitterShortUrl":"https://www.thedailybeast.com/the-indie-rocker-accused-of-sexually-abusing-young-fans?source=twitter&via=desktop","twitterVia":"thedailybeast"},"tags":[{"name":"Music","slug":"music","__typename":"Tag"},{"name":"#metoo","slug":"metoo","__typename":"Tag"}],"wrap":{"external":false,"hideByline":false,"id":"entertainment","longTitle":"Entertainment","rubric":"","shortTitle":"Entertainment","specialContentFlag":"","title":"Entertainment","type":"wrap","url":"/category/entertainment"},"campaign":null,"conversionCards":[],"site":"thedailybeast"}ncG1vNJzZmivp6x7tbTEnZiipKmXsqK%2F02eaqKVfqbWmecinm6KdXae8pLfEq2Sam5OqwKawjKidZquVrcKiuMuyZJqapai2r7OMsqauppdis6K60g%3D%3D