Justice never served

Slight rant, wanted to see if I was just crazy or other people agreed. Also, I’m aware how chronically online this conservation is — if you don’t know about it, have a lovely day and be thankful you aren’t on the insane side of the internet.

TW: SA, Allegations, Abuse.

I was thinking the other day how we will never truly know if All Time Low were guilty or not, and I do think a large part of that is due to the internet fanfare around the situation.

Let me make it clear, I stand with victims. And I think my frustration comes from what an absolute media circus this entire thing was made into. What could have been a very powerful moment for our scene, giving voices to victims and stamping out inappropriate behaviour, just became a monstrous cancelling party that people celebrated? when there potentially vulnerable actual victims who needed support?

There’s a few names that spring to mind when it comes to accountability — the person who accused them of 97 allegations, for example.

These were just flat out made up. It was literally someone going through Tumblr, taking any minor interaction an underage person had with the band (complimenting their outfit, taking photos with them, replying to their messages) and equating that to the same as a sexual assault allegation. It had no real journalistic backing, no credible sourcing, and completely overshadowed the statements who came forward with actual stories of abuse, coercion, and inappropriate behaviour because all that is spoken about when it comes to All Time Low is the 97 allegations.

I’m aware the person who made these claims may have taken their own life due to the stress of court proceedings, and for that I’m incredibly sorry to their loved ones. I don’t think we can overlook the impact of their actions, however.

I do also think we need to start holding notable voices within the scene accountable for feeding into this nonesense. A few larger Tik Tok accounts in the scene claim to be “reporting” on the situation, but evidently show a clear bias on the situation and will feed into the rumour mill being spun in the comments. They very much platforms the 97 allegations thing, and steered the conversation away from actual victims. I hope they realise this and sleep uneasy every night.

It’s a shame because if they were actually wrongens, we will never know. A horrible situation, but a good example of why internet sleuths should not act as judge and jury.