The Runaways’ Jackie Fuchs Issues First Statement Since Rape Allegation

Jackie Fuchs, who played bass for the Runaways from 1975 to 1977 under the name Jackie Fox, recently spoke out for the first time about a rape by band manager and producer Kim Fowley she says took place at a party on New Year’s Eve 1975-1976. (Fowley passed away in January.) 

Today, Fuchs issued her first statement since the original story, written by Jason Cherkis for the Huffington Post, was released. In it, she expresses being both “incredibly moved over the last few days by the outpouring of love and support” and “shocked by some of the vitriol” generated by the article.

Fuchs told Cherkis that the rape was witnessed by her Runaways bandmates Joan Jett and Cherie Currie. In response, Currie and Jett issued statements contesting Fuchs’ allegations. “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,” Jett said in a statement. “All I can say is if Joan, Sandy and I saw an unconscious girl being brutally raped in front of us, we would have hit him over the head with a chair,” said Currie.

In her statement today, Fuchs emphasized the young ages of the Runaways members at the time, and said, “All I can say about what was said and done is that my bandmates were children who’d witnessed something criminal and tragic. I’ve no doubt they were dealing with it as best they were able. They had no responsible adults to guide them – only a rapist and his apologists.”

In her statement, Fuchs explicitly referred to the statements made by Jett and Curie. She wrote, “If I am disappointed in one thing, it is that the story has become about who knew what when and who did or didn’t do what. That isn’t the story at all.”

I know some people watching the online drama unfold have been discouraged by the lack of support I’ve received from my former bandmates. To which I can only say that I hope you never have to walk in their shoes. My rape was traumatic for everyone, not just me, and everyone deals with trauma in their own way and time. It took exceptional courage for many of the witnesses to talk frankly about how they felt. Most have apologized to me for their inaction that night — apologies that have been unnecessary, though welcome.

 She added:

I only wish that if my bandmates can’t remember what happened that night – or if they just remember it differently –they would stick simply to saying that. By asserting that if they’d witnessed my rape, they’d have done something about it, they perpetuate the very myth I was trying to dispel when I decided to tell my story. Being a passive bystander is not a “crime.” All of us have been passive bystanders at some point in our lives.

Read the full note here, the Huffington Post’s full story here, and our interview with Cherkis here.

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