Following recently resurfaced accusations of child molestation against Afrika Bambaataa, the hip-hop artist has issued a statement saying a former New York politician's claims "show a reckless disregard for the truth."
As previously reported, Ronald Savage, a former New York State Democratic Committee member, appeared on Shot97 last week to talk about Afrika Bambaataa. The interview had Savage saying that the musician forced him to perform oral sex on him and also repeatedly sodomized him. Savage was in his early teens at the time.
The claims had also been made in Savage's 2014 book, Impulses, Urges and Fantasies.
ABambaataa's lawyer, Vivian K. Tozaki, has now issued a statement to All Hip-Hop on behalf of her client that deny Savage's claims. It states that the author's allegations of molestation are untrue and suggests that Savage, a "mediocre person," is seeking "social media popularity and superficial gain."
The statement reads:
Recently, defamatory statements were published seeking to harm my client's reputation so as to lower him in the estimation of the community while deterring others from associating or dealing with him. The statements show a reckless disregard for the truth, were published with knowledge of their falsity, and are being made by a lesser-known person seeking publicity. Valuable cultural resources, such as Afrika Bambaataa's good name and time, should never be used to assist a mediocre person's asinine quest for social media popularity and superficial gain.
Savage, now in his 50s, spoke with Shot97 and explained that he was scared to discuss the matter in the 1970s.
"I was a kid when this happened," he said. "I wanted to be down with the in-crowd, not really understanding that what Bambaataa was doing to me was molesting me. I knew it was wrong. I had these feelings that were like, 'Yuck.'"
All Hip-Hop adds that an unnamed man has come forward to say that Afrika Bambaataa molested him as well, when he was 12 years old.
As previously reported, Ronald Savage, a former New York State Democratic Committee member, appeared on Shot97 last week to talk about Afrika Bambaataa. The interview had Savage saying that the musician forced him to perform oral sex on him and also repeatedly sodomized him. Savage was in his early teens at the time.
The claims had also been made in Savage's 2014 book, Impulses, Urges and Fantasies.
ABambaataa's lawyer, Vivian K. Tozaki, has now issued a statement to All Hip-Hop on behalf of her client that deny Savage's claims. It states that the author's allegations of molestation are untrue and suggests that Savage, a "mediocre person," is seeking "social media popularity and superficial gain."
The statement reads:
Recently, defamatory statements were published seeking to harm my client's reputation so as to lower him in the estimation of the community while deterring others from associating or dealing with him. The statements show a reckless disregard for the truth, were published with knowledge of their falsity, and are being made by a lesser-known person seeking publicity. Valuable cultural resources, such as Afrika Bambaataa's good name and time, should never be used to assist a mediocre person's asinine quest for social media popularity and superficial gain.
Savage, now in his 50s, spoke with Shot97 and explained that he was scared to discuss the matter in the 1970s.
"I was a kid when this happened," he said. "I wanted to be down with the in-crowd, not really understanding that what Bambaataa was doing to me was molesting me. I knew it was wrong. I had these feelings that were like, 'Yuck.'"
All Hip-Hop adds that an unnamed man has come forward to say that Afrika Bambaataa molested him as well, when he was 12 years old.
