The music producer and video director Hot Sugar has been accused of sexual misconduct and abuse in a sequence of social media posts by a number of girls, together with his ex-girlfriends Kitty (previously referred to as Kitty Pryde) and artist Molly Soda. In an Instagram post earlier this week, Hot Sugar referred to as the allegations “false and disparaging.” He continued, “These disturbing posts have incited anger and violence not just towards me, but towards women that have been a part of my life in some manner. The spread of these malicious lies has resulted in the unfair harassment of these women, wrongfully cited as victims of my purported abuse.”
A consultant for Hot Sugar declined to remark for this story, and referred Pitchfork to Hot Sugar’s Instagram publish.
Hot Sugar, whose actual title is Nicolas Koenig-Dzialowski, has launched two studio LPs, contributed music to “Broad City,” and labored with the Lonely Island, the Roots, ex-Das Racist rappers Heems and Kool A.D., and others. He was the topic of the 2015 documentary Hot Sugar’s Cold World, which featured appearances from Jim Jarmusch and Dr. Neil deGrasse Tyson. He additionally directed the Smashing Pumpkins video for “Solara,” in addition to music movies for Lil Peep’s “Awful Things” and “Spotlight.”
Earlier this yr, Hot Sugar filed a defamation lawsuit in opposition to Sam Ray (aka producer Ricky Eat Acid) and Gothboiclique member Fish Narc (actual title: Benjamin P. Friars-Funkhouser) over related allegations, courtroom paperwork seen by Pitchfork present. (Hot Sugar and Fish Narc have been each Lil Peep collaborators; Fish Narc produced a number of tracks by the late rapper. Sam Ray can be a member of American Pleasure Club and the Pom-Poms, a duo with Kitty, who’s Sam Ray’s spouse.)
In the lawsuit, filed June 22, 2018 in a California federal courtroom, Hot Sugar claimed that Ray and Fish Narc “are co-conspirators who have engaged in libel and slander, among other unlawful acts, against [Hot Sugar] over the course of years including recently through various social media publications such as Twitter and Wikipedia.” The grievance claimed that Ray and Fish Narc “have falsely stated that [Hot Sugar] is a ‘predator rapist’ and/or ‘assaults women physically and sexually.’” The go well with additionally named Kitty as “a potential co-conspirator,” though she was not a celebration within the lawsuit, courtroom information present. Hot Sugar initially sought at the very least $100,000 in damages, in accordance with the go well with. Hot Sugar reached settlements with each Fish Narc and Sam Ray in August, courtroom information present. The lawsuit was subsequently dismissed. On August 14, 2018, Fish Narc tweeted, “I tweeted this past November about the artist Hot Sugar based on hearsay. It was irresponsible and I apologize to everyone I may have affected.”
Ghost Ramp (the label based by Wavves’ Nathan Williams) and Ninja Tune pulled initiatives by Hot Sugar from their on-line shops following the latest allegations. Ninja Tune, which issued Hot Sugar’s 2012 Moon Money EP, shared an announcement on Twitter, saying, “Once we heard, we immediately issued takedown requests for the digital EP release he did with us in 2012, and removed it from our site.” The assertion continued, “We’re against sexism or violence in any form, and we encourage anyone with knowledge regarding these allegations to report them to authorities.”
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