Metal Anarchy

In a new interview with MetalSucks, Otep talked more in depth about her sexual assault claims against Terror Universal vocalist, Rott. She also commented on the Civil Unrest tour organizers’ claims about her wanting more money, and claims about her being a “man-hater.”

Here’s an excerpt from MetalSucks:

This was during the meet and greet. We had the entire floor lined up waiting for their opportunity to come out and myabe buy a t-shirt or take a photograph. Suddenly I hear from off in the corner, “What the fuck is this?” And then some guy who I don’t even know… I was never introduced to him at all, they wear masks on stage and they never took the time to introduce themselves. I know Dave [Chavarri, also of Ill Nino], their drummer, I’ve known him for a long time, he and I are friends. But this gentleman, the singer for Terror Universal, I’ve never met before. He pushed through our security, pushed past our merchandise guy and walked right up to me and shoved his hand between my legs. I don’t want to get too graphic because it’s extremely upsetting and emotionally disturbing, but he shoved his hand between my legs and tried to force his fingers through my pants. At that time I shoved him away.

I stand on a chair and put one leg up on the merch table so I can reach, because I’m 5 foot 5 and I’ve got a lot of 6 foot 5 fans. In order for me to get good pictures with them I need to be up higher than I am sitting down. Plus I don’t want to sit down when I meet my fans; I want to meet them face to face and shake their hand. So I put one leg up on the table and one leg on the chair and he just walked right up and did that.

He was obviously drunk, which is still no excuse, but still. He had done similar things to the male members of my band. He grabbed every member of my band’s penis while they were carrying gear. He would just walk up to them and not just paint-brush it, but physically grab a hold of it. They were telling him to chill out.

After that happened I told them that was it, they were off the tour. I called my tour manager over and I said they’re done. Security dragged him out of the venue. His band put him in a van and from what I understand drove him away from the venue as quick as possible because they were afraid I was gonna call the police. I got calls from Dave, the drummer, who is also their manager, and he was begging me, “Please don’t do that, we’ll fire him, we’ll get the singer from Thira (the other opening band on the tour), please don’t kick us off the tour.” I said, “I’m sorry, I can’t do that, I can’t take that chance,
I’ve been violated.”

On whether she’s blowing things out of proportion and the claims that she’s a “man-hater”:

“This kind of an assault does something to you psychologically and emotionally. I know that there are a lot of people who don’t understand that and will try to say that I’m overacting. But unless it’s happened to you, you don’t know what that kind of violation feels like. It was really tough. I was very, very angry about the whole situation.
…
Once I told the story on Facebook there were a lot of people that said that I was making it up, or blowing it out of proportion. They even claimed that I’m a man-hater, which is absolutely absurd. My band is male, most of my fans are males, my best friends are males, my brothers who are also my best friends are male, my father’s male — I love him to death — my lawyers, my managers, my agents (Sid from Slipknot is my manager, he has been one of my dearest friends for about 11 years). So the idea that I hate men because I don’t want to be touched in such a violent way is an absurd thing. I don’t know why people don’t understand that and why they tend to react like that. It’s very strange to me.”

On the accusations that she was trying to extort the tour for more money by threatening to drop off:

“I have been playing music for 14 years, I’ve got seven album, I’ve written seven books. I do voice-over work as a voice-over actor: I was just featured in the last Hobbit movie, I was on the Playstation game The Last Of Us, I’ve done other films, I have a merchandise company. I’m a working class artist, I do very well, and I don’t need to extort anybody for anything. The idea that I would use such a heinous act as a lie to try and get money is so upsetting and just ridiculous. And again, this is what victims have to face when they come out and tell the truth and this is why so many woman hide it: because they don’t want this kind of unwanted attention.”