Joan Jett
Joan Jett has issued a statement after her former Runaways bandmate Jackie Fuchs claimed she was raped by the band’s manager while Jett watched.
Fuchs (pictured below, far right), who performed in the all-teen rock band under the name Jackie Fox, talked about her experience at the hands of Fowley in a piece published earlier this week (July 9). She explained how she was attacked, aged 16, by Fowley during a gig in Orange County, California on New Year’s Eve 1976.
Going into the details of the attack by Fowley, who died in January of this year, Fuchs says that he took the band to a hotel near the club after the show.
She then claims that she was given a number of Quaalude sedatives, something witnesses can verify, and heard Fowley ask one of the crew members at the party if they would like to have sex with her. He declined but she says she remembers “opening my eyes, Kim Fowley was raping me, and there were people watching me.”
Among those people Fuchs alleges were watching was her bandmate, Joan Jett.
Jett has subsequently denied the allegations. In a statement obtained by Billboard, Jett said: “Anyone who truly knows me understands that if I was aware of a friend or bandmate being violated, I would not stand by while it happened,” said Jett in a statement. “For a group of young teenagers thrust into 70s rock stardom there were relationships that were bizarre, but I was not aware of this incident.”
She continued, “Obviously Jackie’s story is extremely upsetting and although we haven’t spoken in decades, I wish her peace and healing.”
Fuchs explained that women coming forward against their own alleged attackers, including Ke$ha’s lawsuit against producer Dr Luke and the ongoing accusations against comedian Bill Cosby, gave her the confidence to tell her story after nearly 30 years of silence.
Fowley rose to prominence in the ’60s and worked with several big-name acts including Gene Vincent, KISS, Alice Cooper, Leon Russell and Jonathan Richman and the Modern Lovers.
The likes of Ariel Pink and Sky Ferreira paid tribute to Fowley following his death. Ariel Pink worked with Fowley on his own album ‘Pom Pom’ in 2014.