Part 1: “Separating the Man from the Art or Yourself from the Man?”
A Two-Part Series on the Sexual Misconduct of Acid Ghost
(CONTENT WARNING: the following article contains sensitive material, including first-hand written accounts of sexual assault and rape. Reader discretion is advised.)
What do you do when you discover that an artist you follow has a history of sexual abuse allegations against them? Do you continue to support their music despite their actions? Or do you remove yourself from them altogether?
It’s been nearly four months since the official order for quarantine lockdown in the United States left many of us with staggering amounts of time in our schedules. Alongside other things, I have been using this free time to explore, in more depth, the extensive array of music content that Spotify has to offer.
In recent months, my music preference has swung heavily in favor of anything indie alternative. From aggressive grunge to softer palettes of dream pop, my Discover Weekly and Daily Mix playlists on Spotify soon became saturated with recommendations for up-and-coming talent, as well as more established, yet still underground artists. It made perfect sense that Spotify’s algorithms would eventually lead me to Acid Ghost.
Acid Ghost, otherwise known as Ayce Barcelon,* is a San Francisco-based indie rock project, plus drummer Mikey Mendoza.
*Full Name: Ayce Barcelon Ninalga but will be referred to as “Barcelon” for this article.
After listening to his first few songs, I immediately fell in love with the subdued vocals that floated above the stripped-down drums beats and became an instant fan, adding his entire discography to my favorites.
But a few weeks later, when doing online research to find out more about the man behind the music I had come to love, I discovered a Twitter thread containing countless accusations of sexual assault against him.
In part one of this two-part series, we will cover the events that lead up to the emergence of these allegations and take a closer look at how the events unfolded.
Many of us recall, rather vividly, the fall of 2017 when the #MeToo movement dominated headlines in the months after the series sexual abuse allegations against American film producer Harvey Weinstein of The Weinstein Company surfaced to the public.
After actress Alyssa Milano posted a message on Twitter, encouraging women who had experienced sexual harassment and/or assault to tag themselves on social media with the hashtag, ‘#MeToo,’ to better illustrate the sheer magnitude of the issue, the #MeToo movement had officially resurrected from its initial conception in 2006.
November 4, 2017
Almost a month after Milano’s tweet, media outlets overflowed as article after article seemed to cover the widening scandal.
After reading one of such articles, — an op-ed piece published on Billboard magazine — Nathalie Aiko, former partner of Barcelon, found the courage to come forward with her experience of abuse and exploitation at the hands of Barcelon.
“He exploited my body for his art” — Aiko
In her post, Aiko described the perverse behaviors that Barcelon subjected her to throughout their relationship, including an experience in which he uploaded nude photographs of her in one of his music videos without her consent. The video has since been removed from YouTube.
“I was left feeling humiliated, powerless” — Aiko
November 11, 2017
A few days later, an anonymous Twitter account called “Read Bio” was created to spread awareness of the emerging accusations against Barcelon.
November 12, 2017
Meanwhile, a week after Aiko’s initial post, another woman, Miranda*, contacted Aiko with a message about her own experience of sexual assault with Barcelon.
*pseudonym
“I said ‘no’ several times but my ‘no’ meant nothing to him” — Miranda
Miranda described the interactions she had with Barcelon over social media that escalated to an instance of sexual assault, all of which occurred when she was a minor.
November 14, 2017
Then, only two days after sharing Miranda’s experience, Aiko received another written account from a second woman, Elizabeth*
*pseudonym
“I struggle with depression & anxiety. And now ptsd” — Elizabeth
Elizabeth wrote about her traumatic experience when Barcelon forcibly raped her despite her clear rejection of his advances. She also recalled the emotional manipulation she was subjected to in the months following the attack.
November 15, 2017
As more women continued to come forward, Barcelon disabled his Twitter account.
November 16, 2017
A day later, a third woman, Hannah* came forward with screen-captured text message exchanges with Barcelon, featuring his unwelcome, sexually explicit comments.
*pseudonym
Hannah described the bombarding demands he would make, requesting nude photographs of her, and consequent harassment when she refused to comply, as well as provided screen captures of the explicit and aggressive sexual fantasies he disclosed to her.
“I never met up with Ayce because he eventually scared me before it could get to that” — Hannah
November 21, 2017
One of the women filed an official report to the San Francisco Police Department against Barcelon for charges of forcible rape. (As of February 4, 2018, no arrest is known to have been made.)
November 29, 2017
The emergence of a fourth woman, Sophie’s,* testimony offered further corroboration of the claims against Barcelon.
*pseudonym
“I felt like I just read my own story” — Sophie
Sophie expressed her emotional distress upon discovering the horrifying similarity between her own experience with Barcelon, while still a minor at the time, and that of Miranda’s violent assault. Sophie further mentioned that a close friend of hers also experienced a violent encounter with him.
December 10, 2017
A month since Aiko’s initial post, the number of women with serious allegations against Barcelon reached 12.
Half of the incidents are considered statutory assault due to the victims’ age when they occurred. And a fourth of the victims testified to experiencing rape.
November 21, 2017
Production studio company, Idle House, which had previously published numerous blog posts promoting Acid Ghost’s music, demonstrated their support for the women who were affected.
December 11, 2017
But the number of accounts kept rising as a 13th woman, Julia,* came forward, sharing her encounter of attempted rape.
*pseudonym
Julia recounted an instance in which Barcelon forcibly attempted to engage in intercourse with her, without her consent, stating that he only stopped when she managed to fend him off.
December 12, 2017
The next day, a woman named Aubrey* messaged Aiko regarding her own experience of sexual harassment, which was unnervingly reminiscent of Hannah’s account.
*pseudonym
Aubrey described the persistent demands she received for sexual favors via exchanges over the phone. She also recalled the multiple messages he sent to her containing sexually explicit photographic and video material of himself.
December 21, 2017
As allegations continued to surface, music platform, Buried Muse, removed Acid Ghost’s content from their channel.
Between the end of December and the spring of the following year, the emergence of new allegations seemed to stop.
During this time, Atwood Magazine pulled an online publication of an interview with Acid Ghost conducted back in 2016 in consideration of the assault allegations.
March 17, 2018
However, in mid-March, another statement surfaced, as another woman, Lillian,* recalled her exchanges with Barcelon over the phone back in 2016.
In her account, Lillian provided a comprehensive series of his abusive behavior, involving grooming and manipulation that escalated to sexual demands for nude photographs, homophobic microaggressions regarding her sexuality, and unrelenting harassment, which included sending unsolicited nude photographs of himself to her phone.
April 1, 2018
A few weeks later, drummer Mikey Mendoza publicly announced his separation from Acid Ghost in response to the developments of Barcelon’s extensive abuse.
Sometime before permanently disabling his Twitter account, Barcelon issued a public apology for his actions, expressing his regret and hopes for improvement for the future before going dormant.
No other victim allegations or statements from Barcelon have been made since.
News of the Acid Ghost scandal was never covered by any major media outlets, such as NME, Pitchfork, and Variety, which is rather surprising, as such media companies have been previously known to publish articles covering sexual abuse allegations against independent artists, for instance, Crystal Castles, Pinegrove, and BØRNS, respectively.
The only existing third-party coverage of the allegations is a video uploaded to YouTube, in which indie music reviewer, Hypesage, examined the incident back in December of 2017; however, the information considered in the video had already been provided in the original Twitter thread.
So now, nearly three years later, where exactly has this whole thing left us? And for both fans of Acid Ghost and those learning of the story today, what direction do we proceed in response to an artist who possesses such an extensive history of abuse?
We will analyze the many answers to these questions next week in Part 2 of this article series.
Check out Part 2 of the series below!
