© Provided by The GuardianPhotograph: ZUMA Press, Inc./Alamy
Two women have accused the EDM DJ Bassnectar of sexual abuse, human trafficking, grooming, and the manufacture and possession of child pornography in a new lawsuit.
On 5 April, Rachel Ramsbottom and Alexis Bowling filed a claim against the US producer, born Lorin Ashton, as well as his label, management, touring and charitable giving organisations.
They allege that Ashton sexually abused them as minors and solicited explicit photographs of them, and that the companies named engaged in "a human trafficking venture".
Ashton has denied the allegations. His lawyer, Mitchell Schuster, said in a statement: "These outrageous claims - which were clearly designed for the media, rather than for the courts - are completely without merit, and we eagerly look forward to proving so."
© Photograph: ZUMA Press, Inc./AlamyBassnectar AKA Lorin Ashton performing in Chicago, August 2015.
Allegations that Ashton had sexually abused underage women first emerged on social media in June 2020. He denied them a month later, but said he was "stepping back" from music "because I want to take responsibility and accountability".
He said the "rumours you are hearing are untrue, but I realise some of my past actions have caused pain, and I am deeply sorry".
The lawsuit, filed in Tennessee, says Ramsbottom and Bowling were underage high-school students when Ashton contacted them on Twitter.
"After performances, Bassnectar would invite these underage girls to his hotel room and demand that the girls shower so that they were 'clean,'" states the complaint obtained by Billboard.
"He would then have sex with them, requiring the sex to be unprotected, without a condom, and would provide large sums of cash and other items of value in exchange."
In May 2013, he allegedly invited Ramsbottom to his hotel for sex and paid her $1,000. During a subsequent hotel visit, the lawsuit states that Ashton "required Rachel to hide when room service arrived and became angry when Rachel answered the phone".
In April 2014, Bowling allegedly met Ashton after he performed in Las Vegas. After kissing for six hours, he reportedly paid her $300. Ashton subsequently visited her in her home state of Kentucky and paid her for sex, the lawsuit states. He allegedly requested that she send him explicit photos.
The claim alleges that Ashton contacted Ramsbottom in the wake of the #MeToo movement and offered to pay for therapy.
In summer 2020, he is said to have admitted to Ramsbottom that he "engaged with multiple women who were 'too young', and acknowledged in his own words that there was an imbalance of power dynamic due to his age, the fan/celebrity dynamic, his male privilege, and his celebrity privilege", according to the suit. It also alleges that Ashton offered the two money for their silence.
Related: Sign up for the Sleeve Notes email: music news, bold reviews and unexpected extras
"This lawsuit is about seeking justice not just against Bassnectar, but against the corporations that cooperate in and help facilitate the abuses he is alleged to have committed," said Brian Kent, a lawyer for Ramsbottom and Bowling, announcing the filing.
Kent told Billboard: "While this is just the first two lawsuits that have been filed, I don't want to definitively say that these are the only two." His legal firm, Laffey Bucci & Kent LLP, has invited "anyone with information about Bassnectar or who has been victimised themselves" to contact them.
Raised in San Francisco, Ashton built his reputation through sets at Burning Man festival. At the end of the 2000s, he became a figurehead in the bombastic EDM scene.
In 2012, San Francisco Weekly described Bassnectar as "a cult of personality", with Ashton serving "as a kind of tribal leader for his fans, a big brother with bass" who "sees the project as a cultural and social concern".