In the summertime of 2021, a person recognized as John Doe sued Afrika Bambaataa, accusing the hip-hop pioneer of sexually abusing him and intercourse trafficking him between 1991 and 1995. The alleged abuse started when Doe was 12 years outdated, whereas Bambaataa would have been 33 or 34 years outdated.
Bambaataa, whose authorized identify is Lance Taylor, by no means entered a authorized response to Doe’s lawsuit, so Decide Alexander M. Tisch has now granted a default judgment in opposition to him “with out opposition,” on-line New York court docket data present. Because of this, Bambaataa has successfully misplaced the lawsuit, and “an evaluation of damages in opposition to defendant Lance Taylor shall be referred to a Particular Referee for inquest.”
Pitchfork was unable to achieve Bambaataa in 2021, and contacts for the musician haven’t responded to new requests for remark. Pitchfork has additionally reached out to Doe’s attorneys, Hugo G. Ortega and Rehan Nazrali, for touch upon the judgment.
John Doe filed his lawsuit some 5 years after Ronald Savage got here ahead to say that Afrika Bambaataa sexually abused him, within the Eighties, when he was a minor. Bambaataa denied Savage’s claims, calling them “baseless” and “false,” however, shortly after, extra males alleged that they have been additionally sexually abused as kids by the musician. Bambaataa denied these claims, too, and he has since largely stayed out of the general public eye.
For those who or somebody has been affected by sexual assault, we encourage you to achieve out for help:
RAINN Nationwide Sexual Assault Hotline
https://www.rainn.org
1 800 656 HOPE (4673)
Disaster Textual content Line
SMS: Textual content “HELLO” or “HOLA” to 741-741
