As Brand New are getting ready to hit the highway for a controversial reunion tour subsequent month, new allegations of grooming and inappropriate habits in the direction of minors have surfaced in opposition to the band’s frontman, Jesse Lacey.
In a Medium put up revealed on Friday, April 4th, a lady utilizing the identify Aiyana alleged that Lacey started grooming her in 2006, when she was 15 and he was in his late ‘20s — a narrative mirroring the disturbing allegations that emerged in opposition to the Model New singer final decade, which initiated their years-long hiatus.
In her put up, Aiyana explains how she met Lacey after a Model New present, and shortly started to speak with him commonly. Nevertheless, his alleged habits shortly grew regarding, with inappropriate hugs, lewd feedback, and a disturbing sample of manipulation. He allegedly used “allure and calculated trust-building” to win-over Aiyana’s mom, and continuously made feedback about Aiyana’s age, like “I want you weren’t 15 years outdated” and “the reality is I’m in love with you, however you’re simply not sufficiently old for me to marry you but,” she says.
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Moreover, Lacey appeared to make use of his place of energy and fame to control the phrases of his contact with Aiyana, who explains that after one other fan hacked an account owned by her and despatched Lacey screenshots of the 2’s interactions, he started pressuring her and her mom to maintain the connection personal, suggesting that if she weren’t discreet sufficient, she would lose entry to him and the band.
“You’ve develop into an in depth buddy, one among my greatest associates, truly,” Lacey allegedly advised Aiyana on the time, “and though we perceive our relationship, others may not with out extra context.”
Many different cases are described within the put up, together with inappropriate habits from others within the Model New camp — like a tour supervisor who messaged Aiyana and her buddy to say “You two are so cute — Jesse and I have been simply speaking about how we need to snuggle with you each on the tour bus.”
In 2017, Lacey acknowledged the sooner allegations in opposition to him, and indicated that they were true, vowing to work to “be higher.” Nevertheless, there hasn’t been a lot public indication that any “progress” has been made in regard to bringing justice to Lacey’s alleged victims, and now, the band is gearing as much as return to the stage in full drive.
Therefore why Aiyana is now sharing her story. In her view, Lacey “shouldn’t be allowed” to tour with the group, writing, “To my data, he has but to call particular behaviors that have been problematic — just like the grooming, manipulation, and coercion — and he by no means reached out to the victims to aim any type of restitution… Defending him by claiming he’s ‘executed his time in remedy’ suggests that non-public progress absolves public hurt, which it doesn’t.”
To that finish, Aiyana’s new allegations definitely describe public hurt. Although her experiences have been evidently not as explicitly bodily as the opposite public tales, the trauma allegedly inflicted by Lacey left an immense influence.
“Analysis reveals that grooming at a younger age will increase vulnerability to future abuse, and that proved true in my case,” Aiyana writes. “The injury he triggered would stick with me for years to return — resulting in struggles with promiscuity, vanity points, and the event of complicated PTSD (one thing I’m nonetheless in remedy for).”
Now, Aiyana’s story has amplified the general public outcry in opposition to Model New’s return, which is outstanding sufficient that venues internet hosting the band needed to disable social media comments.
