Controversy surrounds Arcade Fire’s Win Butler in wake of sexual misconduct allegations | News

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A swirl of controversy has enveloped New Orleans resident Win Butler, leader of popular indie rock band Arcade Fire.

On Aug. 27, the music website Pitchfork published a lengthy story in which four people alleged sexual misconduct by Butler between 2015 and 2020.

All four ranged in age from 18 to their early 20s at the time of their initial contact with Butler, who was in his mid-to late-30s. Three women, all Canadian fans of Arcade Fire, contend he took advantage of his fame and their relative youth to persuade or coerce them to engage in sexual activity they werent comfortable with and later regretted, including sexting and in-person encounters.

A fourth person, a Montreal resident who identifies as gender fluid, accused Butler of what she described as two sexual assaults in 2015.

The story posted three days before Arcade Fire launched a European arena tour in support of its latest album, “WE.” The resulting controversy has caused the original opening act for the tour to quit, a handful of North American radio stations to stop playing Arcade Fires music, and some fans across the globe to boycott the shows, even as others have expressed support for the embattled singer.

Butler, who has not been charged with a crime, responded to Pitchforks queries with written statements released through a public relations firm. In those statements, Butler acknowledged having extramarital affairs but disputed details of the accusers accounts and insisted the encounters were consensual.

Win Butler and Regine Chassagne of indie-rock band Arcade Fire perform at the Lakefront Arena, Tuesday, September 26, 2017.

Ted Jackson

He is deeply revisionist, and frankly just wrong, for anyone to suggest otherwise, he said. I vehemently deny any suggestion that I forced myself on a woman or demanded sexual favors. That simply, and unequivocally, never happened.

While these relationships were all consensual, I am very sorry to anyone who I have hurt with my behavior. Life is filled with tremendous pain and error, and I never want to be part of causing someone elses pain.

His wife, Rgine Chassagne, who fronts Arcade Fire alongside Butler, released a statement to Pitchfork in support of her husband.

“I know what is in his heart, and I know he has never, and would never, touch a woman without her consent and I am certain he never did, the statement read in part. “He has lost his way and he has found his way back. I love him and love the life we ​​have created together.”

Ties to New Orleans

For the past eight years, much of that life has been set in New Orleans.

Arcade Fire’s Win Butler performs as costumed revelers celebrate the Kanaval Ball, a Carnival celebration blending Haitian and New Orleans traditions and music in New Orleans, La., Friday, Feb. 14, 2020. Haitian artists Jillionaire, Lakou Mizik, Michael Brun and Pierre Kwenders performed, with the Arcade Fire and Preservation Hall Jazz Band headlining.

PHOTO BY SHAWN FINK

Butler, a native of Houston, attended college in Montreal, where he met Chassagne, who is of Haitian descent but grew up in Canada. They got married in 2003 and have a son.

Arcade Fires 2010 album The Suburbs” won the Grammy Award for album of the year. After concluding a tour with a performance at the 2014 New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival, Butler and Chassagne settled in the city and eventually bought a house Uptown.

In 2016, the couple teamed up with Preservation Hall to stage a David Bowie memorial march that drew thousands of onlookers and temporarily shut down French Quarter streets.

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In 2018, Butler and Chassagne partnered with Preservation Halls Ben Jaffe to found the non-profit Krewe du Kanaval, a blend of New Orleans and Haitian Carnival traditions meant to be both celebratory and philanthropic. It raised money for KANPE, a foundation Chassagne co-founded that helps poor, rural communities in Haiti.

In its first two seasons, Kanavals members strolled through the French Quarter and staged a mini-festival in Armstrong Park. In 2020, Kanavals hundreds of dancers, walkers and musicians paraded on the Uptown route as part of the Krewe of Freret.

Butler also often turns up at local sporting events. A former high school basketball star, he sits courtside at Pelicans games and plays in pick-up games at public courts around town.

Win Butler of Arcade Fire watches during playoff game 4 between the Golden State Warriors and New Orleans Pelicans at the Smoothie King Center on Sunday, May 6, 2018. (Photo by Michael DeMocker, NOLA.com | The Times-Picayune)

Reverberations across the globe

The Pitchfork story sparked similar, unverified claims on social media about Butler’s behavior around New Orleans.

He is currently overseas with the band on theEuropean tour, which concludesin Poland on Oct. 1. The band is scheduled to launch a North American tour in Washington DC on Oct. 27.

After the first two shows, opening act Leslie Feist, who uses only her first name professionally, dropped out.

In a social media post, she acknowledged wrestling with the decision: “To stay on tour would symbolize I was either defending or ignoring the harm caused by Win Butler and to leave would imply I was the judge and jury,” it read in part.

While thousands of fans have attended the European shows, some have chosen to boycott them because of the controversy.

On Sept. 5, the day Arcade Fire performed at the Ovo Hydro arena in Glasgow, Scotland, a fan tweeted, Was supposed to be here tonight for triumphal, euphoric music from a band Ive loved for years. But given the allegations that the front man is at best a serial creep and at worst a serial predator, no chance can I go to cheer that on.

Rory Carroll, the Ireland-based correspondent for the British newspaper The Guardian, covered the tours debut at the 3Arena in Dublin, on Aug. 30. According to Carroll, Butler did not reference the controversy from the stage.

Fans in attendance expressed a range of opinions, according to news reports.

Ive been listening to them my whole life, Rn Maguire, a 20-year-old student, told Carroll. But this news, geez Louise There are many musicians that do horrid things, but Win?

A 31-year-old fan from Italy, Silvia DAngelo, said, Im not justifying anything but different artists have had questionable behavior in the past and you still listen to the music.

Other fans said they would read about the allegations only after the concert, which concluded with a recording of the Ben E. King song Stand By Me.

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