Afrika Bambaataa Calls Sexual Abuse Accusations "Baseless" and "Cowardly"

Afrika Bambaataa Calls Sexual Abuse Accusations "Baseless" and "Cowardly"

Bronx activist and former music industry executive Ronald Savage recently accused hip-hop pioneer Afrika Bambaataa of sexual abuse. Savage said that Bambaataa molested him multiple times in 1980 when Savage was 15 years old. After Bambaataa’s lawyer shared a statement calling Savage’s claims “defamatory” and “false,” Bambaataa has now directly responded to Savage’s accusations in a statement shared with Rolling Stone.

“I, Afrika Bambaataa, want to take this opportunity at the advice of my legal counsel to personally deny any and all allegations of any type of sexual molestation of anyone,” he said in a statement. “These allegations are baseless and are a cowardly attempt to tarnish my reputation and legacy in hip-hop at this time. This negligent attack on my character will not stop me from continuing my battle and standing up against the violence in our communities, the violence in the nation and the violence worldwide.”

Savage claimed that Bambaataa abused him on at least five occasions. Savage said he wanted to go public with the story in an effort to extend New York’s statute of limitations for child sex abuse which blocks criminal and civil charges after the victim turns 23. The allegations against Bambaataa were reportedly included in a self-published 2014 memoir. Previously, Bambaataa’s lawyer shared a statement saying, “Defamatory statements were published seeking to harm my client’s reputation so as to lower him in the estimation of the community while deterring others from associating or dealing with him.”

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