In an Instagram post addressing Adams’ allegations of abuse, the musician urges fans: “If your friend is acting fucked up, call them out”. [sic]
Yesterday (17 February) Better Oblivion Community Center’s Phoebe Bridgers took to Instagram to issue a statement after coming forward about an abusive relationship with singer-songwriter Ryan Adams.
In the post, she reflects on how Adams’ behaviour towards women went unchallenged by his colleagues and loved ones: “Friends, bands, people he worked with. None of them held him accountable. They told him, by what they said or by what they didn’t, that what he was doing was okay.” She ends her statement by calling on individuals to challenge problematic behaviour in friends and family members: “Guys, if your friend is acting fucked up, call them out […] That’s the way this all gets better.”
On 13 February The New York Times published a report on Adams in which seven women came forward with allegations of abusive and manipulative behaviour. Phoebe Bridgers was amongst these women and spoke of a short-lived romantic relationship with the musician in 2014, detailing actions of his such as: “barraging her with texts, insisting that she prove her whereabouts, or leave social situations to have phone sex, and threatening suicide if she didn’t reply immediately.”
Read the full statement above.
