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Mark Kozelek of Sun Kil Moon accused of sexual misconduct, cancels UK tour

Mark Kozelek, frontman of Sun Kil Moon and Red House Painters, has been accused of sex offences on three separate tour incidents. 

An upcoming tour that would see Mark Kozelek performing around the UK has been cancelled following a number of sexual misconduct allegations being held against the US-based indie musician. 

Three women have made claims against Kozelek, recalling multiple sexual incidents that were allegedly not consensual. The artist has previously been a topic of controversy, following distasteful language used towards various journalists and other musicians. But, if these allegations prove to be true, Mark Kozelek’s solo career and Sun Kil Moon‘s reputation could truly be devastated and he may face serious legal ramifications on top of it all. 

sun kil moon, mark kozelek, sexual misconduct
Mark Kozelek performing in Barcelona. Photo: The Quietus

Slated to tour in both November of this year and February 2021, Mark Kozelek’s promoter, TEG MJR, cancelled the dates. Both the artist and his management have not commented any further on the troubling matter.

Three women have reached out to Pitchfork, who revealed a number of sexual misconduct allegations held against Kozelek. Over the course of a few months, the musician did not respond to numerous requests made by the publication. 

As reported by Pitchfork, the sources claimed that the artist “exposed himself without consent, forced a woman to touch his penis, and pressured a 19-year-old into nonconsensual sex”

Previously, Mark Kozelek has made headlines for making crude comments against female journalists and sledging the members of The War On Drugs.

In 2015, Kozelek called The Guardian’s deputy music editor, Laura Snapes, a “bitch” who “totally wants to fuck me” in an improvised version of a song during a London show. 

He also began a one-dimensional war against The War on Drugs, releasing a song titled The War on Drugs: Suck My Cock in 2014. Its lyrics also seem to sledge Alison Hussey, another journalist working for Pitchfork, who Kozelek called a “spoiled bitch rich kid blogger brat”.

At a similar time, Kozelek also got into a dispute following a Hopscotch performance where he called the crowd “fuckin’ hillbillies”.

With his maturity clearly still developing, Mark Kozelek may well be in the shit for real now following these sexual misconduct allegations. 

On August 17, Mark Kozelek has since posted the following statement to his Sun Kil Moon website

“It is important that I publicly and unconditionally deny that I engaged in the inappropriate and disturbing incidents falsely depicted in the media. While I support the important work of addressing legitimate claims of sexual misconduct, I reject the false allegations and innuendo in the recent press.

“I have retained the legal counsel of Lavely & Singer to investigate and to pursue as necessary any claims against anyone participating to defame me in the media.”