Men Behaving Badly

It was a rough month for music's leading men and the women in their lives

Thea Wood

Oct 10, 2024

Men Behaving Badly
Latin GRAMMY Awards Nominees
1st Anniversary Update
ICYMI

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Perry Farrell of Jane’s Addiction performing at The Fillmore in Detroit, MI on February 27th, 2024. Photo: Jacob Giampa (shutterstock)

Men Behaving Badly

As much as I love the music industry, recent headlines have me asking “What the hell is going on around here?”

Most of us expect that the “bad boys” of music will get themselves in trouble. But even men with historically solid reputations are in a certain shade of limelight. Below are the latest jarring stories and the women directly or indirectly affected. Reminder: all are presumed innocent until proven guilty in a court of law. As a publication that spotlights issues that affect women in music, this article is not to convict the accused in the court of public opinion but to learn what we can from these stories and make the music industry a safer place for everyone.

Sean “Diddy” Combs

The biggest news surrounds hip-hop icon Sean “Diddy” Combs’s arrest for years of sex trafficking, drugging, raping, and kidnapping women and men of all ages down to nine years old. There are also charges for arson, racketeering, and owning AR15’s with the serial numbers scratched off. The avalanche of video and material evidence against him is damning, with 120 people filing lawsuits and over 3,000 people calling in claiming to be victims going back to as early as 1991. You’ll hear about “freak offs” a lot, so-called parties that implicate a lot of other high-profile people. Attorneys say those names will become public.

What is most notable is that it took the courage of just one woman, Casandra "Cassie" Ventura, to come forward with abuse allegations against Sean Combs last year for others to find the strength to report their own stories. Here is the ABC News report from October 1, 2024. Last night’s 20/20 Special Edition on ABC should be available on HULU by this weekend.

If you or someone you know has been the victim of sexual assault, kidnapping, or other physical crime, please call 800.656.4673 or contact this chat online.

Dave Grohl

Often referred to as “the nicest man in rock,” Dave Grohl’s reputation of a devoted family man took a beating when he announced he had “recently become the father of a new baby daughter born outside of my marriage.” Doesn’t that sound much sweeter than saying he cheated on his wife and admitted to it only after the baby was born to control the spin? Perhaps the announcement was delayed until after the birth for a paternity test, but prenatal paternity tests are available. The mother has yet to be named.

While not a criminal act, the husband and father of three daughters may end up in court… divorce court. He is not the first, nor will he be the last rockstar to cheat on his/her spouse. The PR machine is already in motion, and the likelihood that this will affect his career longterm is small, even if his family suffers in the wake of public scrutiny.

In a Newsweek.com interview, Frank Tortorici, the VP of media relations and crisis communications at MarketingMaven.com stated:

"The public views male rock stars under a rosy 'boys will be boys' lens while villainizing female rock stars for even one small infidelity. Unfortunately, the old double standard is alive and well in the rock music world."

Thanks for stating the facts, Frank.

Perry Farrell

Jane’s Addiction members are no strangers to drama, but tensions erupted on stage in Boston when an “allegedly” inebriated Perry Farrell got physical with guitarist Dave Navarro both on and off stage. Logan Crosland airs a detailed summary of events leading up to the altercation and some of the aftermath, including the tour’s cancellation. General consensus is that the band is finished for good.

Of course, there are fans blaming Perry’s wife and singer/dancer Etty Lau Farrell because the band voted down Perry’s requests to a) hire backup dancers for this tour, or b) project a video on stage of Etty and another woman dancing. I call this the Yoko Ono Syndrome. God forbid fans hold their rock gods accountable for behaving badly or leaving their own band. They need to place the blame on a woman who has magical voodoo powers over a helpless, gullible little angel who would never break the bro code. PA-LEEZE. 😒

Perry strikes me as a man who is not easily manipulated or overly concerned about how he treats his collaborators. Just ask his former partner and artist Casey Niccoli who was pretty much written out of the band’s history. You can read her personal reckoning in this Huffington Post article.

FWIW, Sir Paul McCartney said that the death of manager Brian Epstein, musical differences, and tensions between bandmates were the driving forces in The Beatles breakup, not Yoko.

Garth Brooks

Squeaky-clean fan favorite of country music Garth Brooks is facing sexual assault charges (multiple incidents including rape in 2019) by a makeup artist whom his wife Trisha Yearwood hired. Here is an NBC report about the story that broke last week. This week, Garth refuted the makeup artist’s claims saying that she previously threatened to blackmail him and this is the next step in her effort to scam millions of dollars. Trisha appears to be standing by her man given a recent IG post. Here’s what E! News reported.

Too many times we’ve seen the fallout of doing business in a hotel room. If you can’t find another location to provide a service or conduct an interview, then make sure a third party is with you. This strategy helps protect *everyone* present from physical and financial dangers. If you have to have 5 people from both parties in the room, so be it. Did we learn nothing from Harvey Weinstein?!?

Latin GRAMMY Awards Nominees

Timed to coincide with Latin Heritage Month, The Recording Academy has announced the nominees for the 25th Annual Latin GRAMMY Awards.

Here are the list of nominees and event details.

Save the date: November 14, 2024 at 8pm ET
The ceremony will telecast live from Miami, Florida on Univision, Galavisión and ViX.

Check out this Q&A between young artists and industry veterans in the latin music industry. Of course, anyone from any background can learn a thing or two from this video. The Leading Ladies of Entertainment Connect TogetHer mentorship panel presented by Spotify for Artists features Róndine Alcalá, Maria Elisa Ayerbe, and Mayna Nevarez. Hosted by mentees Stephanie Acosta and Valeria Peñaranda. Partnering with She Is The Music, The Academy’s Leading Ladies of Entertainment mentorship program is aimed at nurturing the next generation of female music leaders.

First Anniversary Update

As you may recall, September is Herizon Music’s first anniversary month on Substack. There was full transparency about not meeting the Year One goal of hitting 1,000 subscribers. Well, guess what! WE DID IT!

Thank you everyone for making this milestone a reality! Because I LOVE coloring and find it to be healing in nature, my gift to all of you is a downloadable coloring sheet celebrating my upcoming book First Ladies of Music: A Rockin’ Activity & Coloring Book.

DOWNLOAD THE PDF

In gratitude to paying subscribers who open their handbags and wallets to Herizon Music, I’d like to send you a care package! Whether you’re writing a daily journal, book ideas, or song lyrics, I hope you’ll find a glimmer of imagination in this gift. It contains: