{"id":58476,"date":"2022-08-28T01:55:52","date_gmt":"2022-08-28T01:55:52","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/harchi90.com\/arcade-fires-win-butler-faces-accusations-of-sexual-misconduct-rolling-stone\/"},"modified":"2022-08-28T01:55:52","modified_gmt":"2022-08-28T01:55:52","slug":"arcade-fires-win-butler-faces-accusations-of-sexual-misconduct-rolling-stone","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/harchi90.com\/arcade-fires-win-butler-faces-accusations-of-sexual-misconduct-rolling-stone\/","title":{"rendered":"Arcade Fire’s Win Butler Faces Accusations of Sexual Misconduct \u2013 Rolling Stone"},"content":{"rendered":"
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\n\tArcade Fire’s Win<\/span> Butler faces accusations of sexual misconduct \u2014 from sexual assault to unsolicited sexting \u2014 from multiple women between 2016 to 2020.<\/p>\n

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\tIn the Pitchfork report, four women \u2014 three of whom were \u201cdevoted\u201d Arcade Fire fans between the ages of 18 to 23 at the time of meeting Butler \u2014 detailed theirs against the singer, who has been married to Arcade Fire band mate R\u00e9gin Chassagne since 2003.<\/p>\n

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\tButler admitted to the extramarital relationships in a statement to Pitchfork, but insisted that all of the sexual encounters were \u201cconsensual.\u201d<\/p>\n

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\t\u201cLily,\u201d who is gender-fluid and uses they\/them pronouns, said they met Butler at a Montreal concert in 2015 and struck up a friendship. However, following a Feb. 2015 dinner, Butler allegedly stuck his hands into Lily’s pants without consent; In a response to Pitchfork’s report, Butler claimed he only put his hand on Lily’s inner thigh. Butler and Lily kissed at the end of the night, but \u201cI did not ask for it. I did not reciprocate. It was very short and uncomfortable because it was so bad,\u201d Lily told Pitchfork.<\/p>\n

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\tTwo days later, Butler showed up Lily’s apartment, where \u201che pinned me up against the wall and was aggressively grabbing my body and sticking his tongue down my throat,\u201d Lily said. \u201cIt was an attempt to be sexy, and it was so not OK in the context.\u201d<\/p>\n

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\tThree more women, all Arcade Fire fans over a decade younger than Butler, each shared how Butler sought them out over social media; the online conversations between the fans and the singer eventually turned into in-real-life meetups and nonstop requests for each women to send him explicit photos. (Butler reportedly also sent unsolicited nude photos of himself to one woman.)<\/p>\n

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\t\u201cWin butler asked me for nudes and tried to sext me. And I told him I was really uncomfortable with that,\u201d one of the woman, \u201cStella,\u201d wrote in a 2016 Facebook chat. \u201cI don’t really know what to do now. He keeps texting me. Over and over.\u201d<\/p>\n

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\tAnother woman, \u201cSarah,\u201d told Pitchfork of her 2018 online interactions with Butler, \u201cI did everything because it was him,I don’t like doing any kind of video stuff, especially sexual stuff. I remember being so nervous and so ashamed that I did it. I’d be like, ‘I don’t feel well.’ And he’d be like, ‘Send me a picture right now.’ He used me, basically, as his personal therapist, and easy way to get sex over the phone. The FaceTimes would be strictly: he gets off, hangs up. I felt sick every day after I did it.\u201d <\/p>\n

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\t\u201cFiona,\u201d who Butler reached out to after she was front row at an Arcade Fire concert in Montreal, similarly had one interactions with Butler before having in-person sexual encounters with the singer; after one sexual encounter in Vancouver the night before an Arcade Fire concert in that city, Fiona claims she attempted suicide. \u201cI felt incredibly low,\u201d Fiona said. \u201cThe toll of having to keep everything secret, constantly pushing my needs aside in order to appease him, lack of boundaries, and the guilt of being the other woman was getting too hard to ignore.\u201d<\/p>\n

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\tResponding to Fiona’s, Butler acknowledged he knew about the suicide attempt but says Fiona told him \u201cit was unrelated to me, she was suffering from mental illness.\u201d However, Fiona countered, \u201cIt was absolutely related to him.\u201d<\/p>\n

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\tThe four women in Pitchfork’s report did not initially know each other and only connected after each shared their experiences with Butler in a Reddit post. \u201cSexual predator \u2013 from when I was an 18 year old fan girl,\u201d Fiona wrote in an Instagram Live story in 2020, the screenshot of which fueled the Reddit post. \u201cHe would constantly try to coerce me into sexual encounters and sending nude photos of myself and sending unsolicited nude pictures of himself after I repeatedly told him I was not interested. He would not leave me alone and texted me from different numbers after I blocked him. He never once asked for my age either. \u201d<\/p>\n

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\tIn a lengthy statement to Pitchfork, Butler admitted \u201cI have had consensual relationships outside of my marriage,\u201d however, \u201cI have never touched a woman against her will, and any implication that I have is simply false. I vehemently deny any suggestion that I forced myself on a woman or demanded sexual favors. That simply, and unequivocally, never happened.\u201d<\/p>\n

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\t\u201cWhile these relationships were all consensual, I am very sorry to anyone who I have hurt with my behavior. Life is filled with tremendous pain and error, and I never want to be part of causing someone else’s pain,\u201d Butler said in the statement.<\/p>\n

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\t\u201cI have long struggled with mental health issues and the ghosts of childhood abuse. In my 30s, I started drinking as I dealt with the heaviest depression of my life after our family experienced a miscarriage. None of this is intended to excuse my behavior, but I do want to give some context and share what was happening in my life around this time. I no longer recognized myself or the person I had become. R\u00e9gine waited patiently watching me suffer and tried to help me as best as she could. I know it must have been so hard for her to watch the person she loved so lost.\u201d<\/p>\n

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\tButler added that, \u201cI’ve spent the last few years since Covid hit trying to save that part of my soul. I have put significant time and energy into therapy and healing, including attending AA.\u201d<\/p>\n

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\tChassagne said in a separate statement, \u201cWin \u200b\u200bis my soulmate, my songwriting partner, my husband, the father of my beautiful boy. He has been my partner in life and in music for 20 years. And for all of the love in our lives, I have also watched him suffer through immense pain\u2026 I know what is in his heart, and I know he has never, and would never, touch a woman without her consent and I am certain he never did. He has lost his way and he has found his way back.\u201d<\/p>\n

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\tA rep for Arcade Fire referred Rolling Stone<\/em> to the respective statements Butler and Chassagne made to Pitchfork.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n