The following was published with permission from Amine Boucetta (he said "Good luck with that" and "let me know what I can do to help.")
It is well known that Jerry Lee Lewis had a child bride. What is not talked about as much, is how Jerry Lee Lewis had a child bride, and is still so loved by the music community.
After his passing, musicians that support rape culture such as The Royal Hounds went out of their way to praise Jerry Lee Lewis, acknowledging that him being "controversial" didn't stop him from making music.
As someone impacted by rape culture in the music industry, it was such a trigger for me to watch musicians imply that someone who is a pedophile is worth celebrating.
To have people tolerate pedophilia and rape culture, especially in a world where people are fighting for autonomy, is what normalizes and perpetuates this behavior.
After The Royal Hounds wrote a long love letter to Jerry Lee Lewis, I made a post that anyone who was a part of supporting them and tolerating pedophile culture was not welcome in my life.
Amine Boucetta's response: "1944? People still supported slavery that are still alive, let's burn them to the ground too."
I feel this statement could be taken one of two ways. Either Amine Boucetta supports having a child bride or Amine Boucetta thinks it is okay to make inappropriate jokes about slavery in regards to pedophilia.
I took it to be dismissive of pedophilia, as in if slavery was tolerated we can tolerate this too.
It could be also taken as a comparison between the culture that supports rape culture is the same as the one that tolerates slavery, due to intersectionality. But I feel if that was his stance, his response to me would have been different. If that was his stance why not double down on no no I meant that it is all discrimination instead of making light of rape culture and social issues?
Best case scenario, he compared two forms of discrimination which should not have been compared because while they are rooted in intersectionality, it is not appropriate to compare all struggles of rape culture to slavery.
Because all people who experienced slavery were in the danger of rape culture, but not all who experience rape culture have dealt with anything about trauma from slavery.
Worst case scenario, he somehow brought racism into his misogyny thinking if it is okay to tolerate racism it should be okay to tolerate having a child bride too? Or that if it happened long enough ago we can say oh it was fine to have happened? I don't get that wording.
So I let him know how this triggered me. How the idea of supporting a pedophile because racism is tolerated disturbs me.
Instead of taking this conversation seriously, he claims that comparing pedophilia to slavery and asking if we were going to burn slavery supporters to the ground too has nothing to do with supporting a pedophile and that I am an attention seeker who needs to go fuck myself.
If you read this blog, you already know I speak out on issues such as mass incarceration. So that is why I didn't take this as a well if you are calling out pedophiles make sure you are calling out racists too conversation, as I already do that.
That's why I took it as a well if nothing happens to racists, nothing happens to pedophiles.
If all he meant by his original comment was social commentary, and not his personal opinion, then why continue to engage with me in a way that dismisses rape culture and demeans me for speaking on it?
Something about this person and this conversation has deeply triggered me. I hope everyone practices safety and caution when allowing people who make light of these issues in your life.
This is not okay.
While he talks about this one instance in 1944 happening as if it doesn't happen today, I could provide lists and lists of musicians and entertainers today who are known assaulters that people continue to idolize. These issues aren't some far distant past I just won't forget. This is shit we are dealing with now, and the history shows the pattern of injustice.
Change starts with us as a music community. Stop using the paradox of tolerance or wanting to party to support discrimination against others or taking away human rights.
I've seen venue managers say we didn't cancel a rapist so we won't cancel a transphobe. I've seen promoters go out of their way to continue working with known rapists. I've seen musicians go out of their way to use their clout to assault others and cover up assault.
If you don't see how this is a human rights issue, I am done with you. We are done here.
I don't know how a couple of the screenshots came out blurry, but he started deleting comments so this is what I have.
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