Runaways’ Jackie Fuchs Speaks Out for the First Time Following Kim Fowley Rape Allegations

Last week, the Huffington Post published a story for its Highline longform vertical detailing former Runaways manager Kim Fowley's -- who passed away earlier this year -- alleged rape of bassist Jackie Fuchs (a.k.a. Jackie Fox). The report asserted that multiple people witnessed the attack, including Fuchs' bandmates at the time, Joan Jett and Cherie Currie. Both Jett and Currie have since released statements refuting the allegations that they were present at the time of the assault. Now, Fuchs has shared her own statement.

In it, Fuchs addresses those who have placed blame on Jett, Currie and other reported witnesses, writing that they were all traumatized by the events.

I know some people watching the online drama unfold have been discouraged by the lack of support I’ve received from my former bandmates. To which I can only say that I hope you never have to walk in their shoes. My rape was traumatic for everyone, not just me, and everyone deals with trauma in their own way and time. It took exceptional courage for many of the witnesses to talk frankly about how they felt.

She also asked that her supporters not become distracted by placing blame on those present, who were “children who’d witnessed something criminal and tragic.”

If I am disappointed in one thing, it is that the story has become about who knew what when and who did or didn’t do what. That isn’t the story at all. It would be nice if everyone who was there the night I was raped could talk about how it has affected them over the years. But if they don’t want to talk it about, I respect that. It’s taken me years to talk about it without shame. I can only imagine what it must have been like to have watched it happen.

However, Fuchs also addressed her former bandmates' statements suggesting that if they had been present at the time of the attack, they would have taken action, as that counteracts Fuchs' motivation behind sharing her story.

I only wish that if my bandmates can’t remember what happened that night - or if they just remember it differently –they would stick simply to saying that. By asserting that if they’d witnessed my rape, they’d have done something about it, they perpetuate the very myth I was trying to dispel when I decided to tell my story. Being a passive bystander is not a “crime.” All of us have been passive bystanders at some point in our lives.

Read Fuchs’ entire statement on her Facebook page.