Multiple women have accused Stringfellow of abuse, nonconsensual biting
Ken Stringfellow of the Posies, R.E.M. and Big Star has been accused of sexual misconduct by three women, Seattle’s KUOW reports. In light of the allegations, members of the Posies told KUOW that the band is “in the process of breaking up.”
One of the women alleges Stringfellow “forcibly had sex with her in a men’s room at a hotel in San Francisco.” Another said she once woke up to Stringfellow having sex with her. A third says she was in an “abusive relationship” with Stringfellow that began in 2015. Of the seven women KUOW spoke with that had “intimate” relationships with Stringfellow, four said that he had bitten them without consent, including Stringfellow’s ex-wife Kim Warnick of the bands Visqueen and the Fastbacks.
Speaking to KUOW, Stringfellow said: “I have never been into anything kinky, into anything rough. I experienced extreme violence firsthand as a teen. I’m sensitive to aggression, and it’s not something I can be around. I am not down with violence. I don’t want to hurt anyone, ever.”
He also emailed a statement: “I would never want to harm anyone with whom I have a relationship – sexual or otherwise. Consent has been the foundation of every sexual relationship I’ve had, and violence has never been a part of any of those relationships. It simply is not who I am as a person who respects women.” Pitchfork has reached out to Stringfellow and his representatives for comment.
In June, Stringfellow released Ten Years To Home: Ken Stringfellow Imagines Puleo, a collaborative album with Joe Puleo. The Posies last performed at ZooTunes last summer; Stringfellow is scheduled to play solo dates in Pennsylvania and Brooklyn next month.
