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Maynard James Keenan Responds to Anonymous Rape Allegation

maynard james keenan rape sexual assault allegation metoo response statement denial
INDIO, CA - APRIL 15: (EDITORS NOTE: This image has been converted to black and white) Maynard James Keenan of A Perfect Circle performs onstage during the 2018 Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival Weekend 1 at the Empire Polo Field on April 15, 2018 in Indio, California. (Photo by Frazer Harrison/Getty Images for Coachella)

Maynard James Keenan has issued a statement denying an anonymous allegation of rape widely circulated online over the past week.

“Many thanks to those of you who saw right through this despicable false claim that only does damage to the #metoo movement,” the Tool and A Perfect Circle band leader wrote on his personal Twitter account. “And shame on those of you who perpetuate this destructive clickbait. As for my delayed but un-required response, I had my phone off. You should try it.”

https://twitter.com/mjkeenan/status/1012425461845016576

The anonymous allegation was initially described in a June 22 Twitter thread and subsequently spread to other discussion forums. “In the tweets, the woman describes attending a Nine Inch Nails concert with her boyfriend in 2000, when she was 17,” as the Daily Beast reports. “A Perfect Circle performed first, she writes, and the 36-year-old Keenan allegedly led her to his tour bus after spotting her in the crowd. There, she claims, he put on a movie and raped her.”

Keenan is currently on tour with A Perfect Circle in support of the band’s most recent album, Eat the Elephant, which was released in April.

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