“It is with a heavy heart that I confirm that the statements I have read are true,” says Chris Whitehall amid sexual misconduct allegations.
Chris Whitehall, lead vocalist of Sydney indie rock band The Griswolds, has responded to sexual misconduct allegations, confirming they are true.
Taking to social media, two of his victims shared their experiences with Whitehall, alongside extensive screenshot evidence. In both cases, it’s clear that Whitehall knew of their age when he was sending them sexually explicit content.
Kelly Blaus was the first victim to share her story. She speaks of how Whitehall contacted her offering tickets to a sold-out show when she was 16. They progressed into a friendship, with her stating “I genuinely felt that I was special to him”. However, the friendly conversations quickly progressed into sexually explicit content. Kelly stated that she was only 17 and still a high school student at the time, to which Whitehall responded that they should “take it slow and be careful for the time being.”
Mr Whitehall was well aware of the ramifications of his actions, stating that if anyone was to find out about their conversations, he would be deported back to Australia. Shortly after though, he continued to send “videos of him touching himself while fully naked, among other things” through Snapchat and text messages. Blaus details that their rendezvous started to become only about sexual things, with Whitehall’s requests for this type of content becoming “increasingly demanding”.
I have far more evidence than this, but I would prefer to keep it private for the time being due to its intimate nature. pic.twitter.com/ifIzHrML21
— Kelly (@kellyblaus) September 5, 2020
The second experience to be shared was by another woman on Twitter. Her tweets have since been made private, but her account is eerily similar to that of Kelly Blaus. Prior to her sharing her story, Whitehall reached out to the woman with an apology in an apparent attempt to sway her from going public, stating “My apology probably doesn’t mean much right now, but I am deeply sorry that this happened.”
Chris Whitehall has now addressed these allegations on the band’s Instagram, confirming that the statements are true and writing: “I want to confront this, I want to be held accountable, and I deserve to be called out”.
Blaus’ statement has encouraged numerous other people to come forward and share similar experiences with Whitehall.
Commenting on her original post, Blaus has also called out other members of the music industry, attaching more than 20 additional stories of similar nature. Highlighting the copious amounts of grooming, rape, child pornography, and abuse that continue to occur in the music industry, Blaus writes: “Fame, money and power erases barriers that stand between predators and potential victims in almost any other industry.”
