Editor’s word: This article accommodates descriptions of alleged sexual assault that will disturb some readers.
In late September, Los Angeles-based artist Meagan Boyd wrote in a put up on Instagram that Sigur Rós drummer Orri Páll Dýrason sexually assaulted her. Specifically, Boyd accused Dýrason of partaking in non-consensual intercourse along with her whereas she slept, throughout an evening they spent collectively 5 and a half years in the past. On October 1, days after Boyd’s preliminary put up, Sigur Rós announced that Dýrason had left the band on account of the allegation. In a statement on Facebook, Dýrason wrote, “I will do anything in my power to get myself out of this nightmare, but out of respect for those actually suffering from sexual violence, I will not take that fight public.”
Pitchfork talked with each Boyd and Dýrason over the course of the previous week.
Speaking with Pitchfork, Dýrason denied Boyd’s declare that he had non-consensual intercourse along with her, and mentioned that they didn’t have intercourse in any respect. But Dýrason confirmed he spent the evening in query along with her, “talking and drinking.” He additionally confirmed the authenticity of two September 27 emails from him that Boyd had posted on Instagram. Dýrason declined to remark additional, however informed Pitchfork that he plans to say extra at a later date. “My comment is I didn’t do anything,” he mentioned.
Boyd informed Pitchfork that on January 9, 2013, when she was 26 years previous, she was working at a strip membership in West Hollywood referred to as the Body Shop. Around 3:30 a.m., she mentioned she stepped out for a cigarette and encountered a person with a pleasant automotive, who mentioned he was the motive force for a member of a band that was on the town. The driver allegedly really useful she ask the band member, whom he described as “a blonde-ish guy in a cap,” if he wished a dance. Boyd mentioned that she went again into the membership and earlier than lengthy encountered the person in a cap: Dýrason, then 35.
“He ended up telling me that he was in an Icelandic band and they were recording an album. I just guessed that it was Sigur Rós,” Boyd informed Pitchfork. “I got a little bit excited. I told him I was an artist. And he seemed sort of interested.”
Boyd informed Pitchfork that Dýrason invited her again for drinks on the place in Silverlake the place he was staying. Boyd drove and he despatched his driver away, she mentioned and Dýrason confirmed in his September 27 emails.
“Sometimes when you have admiration for someone you just trust them,” Boyd informed Pitchfork. “That’s why I went along with it. There’s no other circumstances that I would have left the club with a guy, ever.” She mentioned, “When you work in environments like that you have to expect that men are going to feel like they have the right to disrespect you. But when I met Orri he didn’t seem like he was one of those guys… You wouldn’t think somebody in that band would even be at a strip club.”
Boyd mentioned they arrived the place Dýrason was staying and had drinks collectively. “At this point, it was like 6 or 7 in the morning,” she informed Pitchfork. According to Boyd, Dýrason informed her he was married and his spouse had lately given start. “It was a kind of a reality check,” she mentioned.
Boyd was enthusiastic about leaving, she mentioned, when Dýrason requested her to remain, acquired into mattress, after which requested if she would cuddle with him. “I felt guilty because I was dating someone at the time, but I don’t know—I was sort of charmed.”
Boyd informed Pitchfork that after a minute or so in mattress with Dýrason, who was both bare or in boxers, he mentioned he wished “to feel your skin on my skin.” Boyd informed Pitchfork, “And I was like, ‘OK,’ and I kind of like got naked next to him and we were cuddling, and then he kissed me and we were kissing for a couple of minutes. It was very short. And I was like, ‘I feel weird… is it OK if I just sleep here, because I’m actually getting really tired and I don’t want to do this. Can we just sleep?’ And he was like, ‘Yeah, sure.’ He seemed really nice about it.”
Boyd awakened, she mentioned, to the sensation of somebody performing oral intercourse on her. “I opened my eyes and I was sort in shock. I was like, ‘What’s happening to me?’” she informed Pitchfork. “Before I could move he just started putting his dick in me. And then I pushed him off of me, and I was like, ‘I was asleep, what are you doing?’ And he was like, ‘I’m sorry, I just wanted to make you feel good.’ And then he said that he didn’t know that I was asleep. And I was like, ‘How could you not know that I’m sleeping?’ And he just kind of was like, ‘I’m sorry.’ And then he laid back down and I was like, ‘You don’t do that to people who are sleeping.’”
According to Boyd, she placed on her garments and began on the lookout for her keys, however she was feeling dizzy, drained, and groggy. In her recollection, she went again to mattress along with her garments on and fell asleep subsequent to Dýrason. “When I woke up again he had taken my pants off, and my underwear off, and he had his dick inside of me,” Boyd mentioned. “I woke up to the feeling of being penetrated.” She pushed Dýrason off once more and yelled at him that he had raped her, she recalled. “I wasn’t really tired anymore. The first time I was so out of it, but this time I was just angry.”
Boyd informed Pitchfork that when she had discovered her keys and began to depart, Dýrason once more requested her to remain within the condo. According to Boyd, as she was leaving, he requested for her quantity, and she or he declined to provide it; he invited her to the studio, and she or he mentioned one thing like, “What, you’re going to tell your friends that you brought a stripper home last night?” According to Boyd, “He was like, ‘Yeah, why not?’ And he kind of laughed,” after which she began to cry. (Dýrason mentioned within the September 27 emails to Boyd, “The next day you even wanted to stay and asked me if you could, but I had to go to the studio and you got upset about that.”)
Boyd describes the impression that evening had on her as profound. “I was really traumatized,” she informed Pitchfork. “I had a lot of weird problems with men and I was afraid of men. It was a really difficult time for me.” Boyd added that she didn’t go to the police as a result of she didn’t need the eye that will include elevating allegations in opposition to a member of Sigur Rós—“I didn’t want to have happen what’s happening now”—and since, as a strip membership employee, she was afraid she could be accused of soliciting. She has not gone to the police since making the accusations public, she mentioned, due to the excessive burden of proof in a legal trial and the extra stress it could deliver. Dýrason has not been charged with any crime.
Three associates of Boyd’s informed Pitchfork they spoke with Boyd quickly after the night with Dýrason about what occurred between them. They diversified in specifics, however the primary element was constant. All of their recollections of their talks included allegations that Dýrason carried out oral and penetrative intercourse on Boyd whereas she was sleeping and regardless of her protests. All three mentioned they’d since mentioned the allegations with Boyd at varied factors through the years.
Boyd identified to Pitchfork that she first publicly outlined the allegations in a pseudonymous January 25, 2013 comment on a Sigur Rós Reddit AMA. “Attention Orri,” it says. “Remember when you went to The Body Shop in West Hollywood a few weeks ago, January 9th, a Wednesday. You brought home a girl you met there and took her to an apartment in Silverlake. You waited until she fell asleep to fuck her unconscious intoxicated body. It’s called RAPE. Does this sound familiar…?” According to a consultant for Sigur Rós, the band didn’t see the remark on the time as a result of it was posted hours after the AMA had completed.
Boyd additionally identified to Pitchfork that on January 9, 2014, one yr after her evening with Dýrason, she shared an article on her personal Facebook account regarding rape allegations in opposition to one other musician. “This kind of thing happens a lot,” Boyd wrote. “Someone who is known and highly effective thinks they will have anybody they need, and take it upon themselves to take what they need as a substitute of asking or listening to ‘no.’ I’ve the utmost compassion for this woman’s story. Not simply because I share an identical expertise along with her (with a special individual in a special band that’s fairly well-known), however as a result of it took lots of guts to return out about this realizing how a lot criticism you might obtain. I’m not even certain if I’m able to fully come out about my story, nevertheless it’s good to know that somebody can.”
Boyd mentioned she went public along with her story final month as a result of she learn on-line that Dýrason, after splitting along with his spouse, was engaged to a feminist activist who co-founded Reykjavík SlutWalk, a part of a world protest motion in opposition to victim-blaming in sexual assault circumstances. (The two at the moment are married). Boyd informed Pitchfork it was “infuriating” for her to see this, as a result of “he shouldn’t be in a woman’s safe space.” Boyd mentioned she has acquired supportive messages from a whole lot of individuals, but in addition derogatory feedback and threatening messages. She mentioned the backlash led her to take her social media accounts personal.
In Dýrason’s September 27 emails, he wrote to Boyd, “I am so sorry you are going through all this. But my experience from that night is completely different than yours.”
“I just wanted to speak my truth,” Boyd informed Pitchfork. “I sincerely hope it leads to Orri admitting the truth publicly and an apology to me.”
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