Last August, Sun Kil Moon’s Mark Kozelek was accused of sexual harassment, coercion, and assault by three separate women who bravely shared their stories in an exposé. Their stories took place from 2014 to 2017, and Kozelek denied their claims shortly after they were made public. But now, seven more women have come forward to detail decades of similarly horrific stories of Kozelek’s harassment.
The new allegations are detailed in another exposé published by Pitchfork, which notes that the victims’ friends and family members were interviewed to corroborate the stories. These new claims are very similar to the ones made by the first three women, alleging instances of nonconsensual masturbation, unwanted touching, and one claim of rape.
One woman’s story took place in 2014 after she introduced herself to Kozelek at a Sun Kil Moon show. He walked her back to her hotel and asked to use her bathroom, but when he emerged, his pants were off and he tried to force himself on her. “It was the most excruciating period of time between when I called the cab and when the cab finally arrived, because it was like, nonstop him trying to force me to touch him,” she said, continuing that Kozelek seemed to feel entitled to have sex because she was a fan. “Like, he bought me dinner, and he’s doing me a favor because I’m this big fan.”
In a statement through his lawyer, Kozelek once again denied the allegations of all seven women, now ten in total. “Apparently an effort is being made by those with an agenda to renew and recirculate the same kinds of false allegations and innuendo that were the subject of my prior statement in August 2020,” the statement reads. “I continue to categorically deny that I engaged in the inappropriate incidents falsely depicted in the media. I intend to vigorously defend myself against these untruthful allegations and to pursue and protect my rights in the event that false and defamatory statements are disseminated or published.”
