A couple of weeks ago we broke the story of Aiden’s William Control running some kind of bizarre worldwide BDSM sex cult and now we’re one of the first to bring you news of allegations levelled at Tool and A Perfect Circle’s Maynard James Keenan.
Featured Image VIA
Keenan has always been a bit of a weirdo eccentric kinda character, but I never really pegged him for a guy that would actively rape young girls on his tour bus after a show in pretty much every city. Of course, there’s no evidence of him doing this other than an account posted on an anonymous Twitter, but you really have to think that if someone is going to the trouble of telling this horrific story then it probably is true because they haven’t really got that much to gain from making it up, have they?
Anyway, here’s what happened according to the victim:
Deep breath. I have to anonymously tell this story because I tried to tell it from my real account and couldn't name him directly out of fear, so I deleted the tweets. Here goes: I was 17 and he was 36. 1/
— Iwas17HeWas36 (@IWas17HeWas36) June 23, 2018
I went to see A Perfect Circle and NIN in the year 2000 with my high school boyfriend. I will leave out the city in an attempt to protect myself. We were looking forward to this all year as both of us were really huge fans, teenagers obsessed with great music. 2/
— Iwas17HeWas36 (@IWas17HeWas36) June 23, 2018
We were in the front row and my boyfriend had his arms around me. The band started. Maynard noticed me in the crowd. Not that it matters what I wore, but I was wearing a NIN tank top and baggy cargo pants with flat-soled combat boots. 3/
— Iwas17HeWas36 (@IWas17HeWas36) June 23, 2018
Maynard saw me and threw a water bottle in my direction. The guy next to me caught it. My boyfriend and I laughed and thought that was cool. Minutes later, a heavy-set, blonde, white woman came out to meet us. She looked at me and asked, “Do you want to meet the band?” 4/
— Iwas17HeWas36 (@IWas17HeWas36) June 23, 2018
I said, “Can my boyfriend come with me?” The heavyset woman said “I only have one pass. You can meet them now if you want.” I told my bf that I’d see him in a few minutes, and then I followed her backstage. She lead me back to the VIP area, and I never saw her again. /5
— Iwas17HeWas36 (@IWas17HeWas36) June 23, 2018
Maynard was sitting on a picnic table and was staring at me. NIN hadn’t gone on yet so I thought I had plenty of time to get an autograph and get back to the show and my boyfriend. I didn’t have a piece of paper, so I asked Maynard to sign my hand. /6
— Iwas17HeWas36 (@IWas17HeWas36) June 23, 2018
I was ready to go back with my bf. NIN was starting and I didn’t want to miss it. But Maynard kept chatting. He asked me how old I was. I said, “I’m 17.” Then he said, “I can’t talk to you here, let’s go watch a movie” and he pulled me away from everyone and onto a tour bus. /7
— Iwas17HeWas36 (@IWas17HeWas36) June 23, 2018
He lead me to a bed in the back on the bus and closed the door. He put on Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas. I decided to watch a few minutes and at least have a weird story to tell my boyfriend later. Yes, 17 year olds can be naïve. This is why older men target teenage girls. /8
— Iwas17HeWas36 (@IWas17HeWas36) June 23, 2018
He started rubbing my neck. At this point, I fell silent. He talked about the film, Johnny Depp, and Hunter S. Thompson while he started taking his pants off. All I could do was sit there, looking at the movie, unable to move. /9
— Iwas17HeWas36 (@IWas17HeWas36) June 23, 2018
I froze so he had to move my body into a missionary position. He pulled off my cargo pants. He forced himself in- there was no attempt at "warming up". I mention this because this wasn't about sex. This was about raping me as fast as he could. /10
— Iwas17HeWas36 (@IWas17HeWas36) June 23, 2018
He penetrated my vagina without a condom, moving rapidly, while I lay there frozen in a stunned silence. If I sound clinical it's because it has been a long time and I have tried to push down any sort of fear or shame that comes with a rape. /11
— Iwas17HeWas36 (@IWas17HeWas36) June 23, 2018
There was no consent made. I was not high. I was clean. He did not seduce me, he forced me, quickly taking advantage of my paralyzed state. It took me years to process his actions. He came all over my torso and didn’t wipe me off. There were stains on my tank top when I left. /12
— Iwas17HeWas36 (@IWas17HeWas36) June 23, 2018
I don’t remember the next few minutes but I do remember this- my boyfriend was waiting for me at the doorway where I had been lead. His face was sick with worry. I didn’t want to upset him so I kept it to myself. /13
— Iwas17HeWas36 (@IWas17HeWas36) June 23, 2018
I’m sure to some this doesn’t sound like rape. I’m telling this story because in the year 2000 the conversation about consent was non-existent, at least not at my high school. Statutory rape in this state is 16 and under. Lucky for him he beat it by 1 year. /14
— Iwas17HeWas36 (@IWas17HeWas36) June 23, 2018
It has been 18 years and I’m still working through the trauma of that assault. #MeToo and #TimesUp has been an eye opener. I hope that everyone gets a chance to heal. I hope I can heal. Maybe telling your story is part of the healing process for victims of sexual assault. /15
— Iwas17HeWas36 (@IWas17HeWas36) June 23, 2018
I kept it in for years because I knew I wasn't going to be believed by he legion of dedicated fans. Because he chose to not use a condom when he raped me, he also gave me a strain of HPV, which thankfully was not the cancerous type. /16
— Iwas17HeWas36 (@IWas17HeWas36) June 23, 2018
Later on, I heard from a male friend that he did this in every city, at every show. He preferred underage girls (or as close to underage as he could get). What happened to me has likely happened to a lot of underage girls by this same man. /17
— Iwas17HeWas36 (@IWas17HeWas36) June 23, 2018
A warning to Maynard James Keenan and all men: *leave underage girls alone.* Do not take advantage of a girl's kindness and trust. She deserves to keep her self-confidence and happiness forever. /End #TimesUp #MeToo
— Iwas17HeWas36 (@IWas17HeWas36) June 23, 2018
I've carried a sense of deep shame from this assault for many years. I thought it was my fault. How could I let him do this to me? But he was 36. I was 17. He knew exactly what he was getting away with. What could I have done differently? My body was paralyzed. #MeToo
— Iwas17HeWas36 (@IWas17HeWas36) June 23, 2018
Now that I am approaching the age that Maynard James Keenan was when he assaulted me, the thought of assaulting a 17 year old is completely unthinkable. Just *unthinkable*. We have to train men to think rape is as unthinkable as cannibalism. #MeToo
— Iwas17HeWas36 (@IWas17HeWas36) June 23, 2018
Man that is such a horrible story and it sucks so bad that this man took advantage of that poor girl like that and that it’s affected her life like this for almost 20 years. I can only hope that telling it gives her some sense of closure as it seems like people (including me) believe her account and support. Like I said before, I dunno if it’s true but it clearly took a lot for her to write this so I’m inclined to believe her.
A couple of other stories have also been posted up which kind of back up her account too. Check them out:
https://twitter.com/AmberGodarkly/status/1011349689847959557
https://twitter.com/AmberGodarkly/status/1011409211316752384
Make of it what you will, but a massive Tool fan posted this on the Reddit too saying it was pretty common practice for Keenan to pick girls out of the crowd after every show and everyone knew what they were getting into in these situations. The key factor here though is that it seems like everything was consensual, even if it was a bit creepy. Here’s the full account:
I mean that makes him sound like a complete creep and weirdo, but not necessarily a rapist. Borderline sex fiend though, sure.
As well as this, Maynard James Keenan himself said the following back in 2016 regarding having sex with groupies which is him pretty much admitting that he did it on the reg back then:
At the time it seemed like the perfect thing to do but in the end proved unfulfilling.
Well, yeah [I feel like I was becoming the rock ‘n’ roll cliche that I hated]. But you don’t care because you’re having fun. And then when you finally wake up you realize that this is not for me, this is not where I’m supposed to be, and this is not gonna help anyone.
I mean it sounds like he regrets his actions before any of this came out, but the female accounts of their sexual encounters seem very different from what Keenan is referring to as ‘having sex with groupies’. It seems more like it’s some kind of systematic grooming procedure which could possibly be construed as rape by some of the people that partook in it. It’s a weird one but you’ve gotta believe the survivor here for what she’s saying.
I imagine more stories about encounters with Keenan will come out in the coming days before he issues some kind of statement apologising as that’s what tends to happen with these incidents. We’ll keep you posted.
If you missed the whole William Control affair, click here. Even more messed up than this one though, seriously.
