Since mid March, many fans and accounts have been sharing information regarding the actions of Adam Powell and the terrible response to the situation from Dirty Hit and The 1975. 

During this time, fans demanded accountability from Adam Powell (who has maintained his silence), The 1975 (who have not acknowledged this at all) and Dirty Hit. No apologies have been given to the victims, nor to the fanbase who the band and label have willingly exposed to predatory men for years.

We published a list of actions Dirty Hit and The 1975 should be willingly taking to ensure the safety of the fanbase moving forward from this. This full list can be read in the second petition update, but it includes things like implementing sexual harassment training for all staff, bands, crew and contractors; putting in place a process to handle future complaints in an appropriate manner where victims feel safe; a social media policy outlining what is and what is not appopriate online; and a change in how they hire people (i.e. not hiring their friends who reinforce a toxic environment).

This whole situation, which has been going on for almost four months now, has been incredibly distressing for many people. Victims have not been believed by some, and fans defending the band/label have made excuses for the acts committed against them. People supporting victims have been attacked and harassed, and some even doxxed.

To be very clear: The 1975 have still not spoken about this situation. They have not said a single word about Adam Powell and what he did, nor have they disavowed that type of behaviour. The 1975 is NOT Dirty Hit. Dirty Hit is majority owned by Jamie Oborne. Again, The 1975 and its members have made NO acknowledgement of this situation. What was that about weak messages creating bad situations, Matthew?

Dirty Hit was forced to make a statement after approximately 2 and a half months of us campaigning every single day for Adam Powell to suffer actual consequences due to his behaviour this time (since he escaped them in 2016/17). They have said they will not work with Adam Powell again in an Instagram comment we shared previously. Time will tell if Dirty Hit is telling the truth.

During the last few months as we spoke with victims of Adam Powell and helped give them a voice, we came into contact with others who had stories about other people associated with Dirty Hit. Some of these allegations were incredibly disturbing, and indicated just how deep this issue within Dirty Hit and The 1975 is. We truly cannot accurately describe how distressed some of us have been after hearing some of these allegations. There are no words.

Once we realised how deep this issue ran, we realised why Dirty Hit avoided addressing this issue back in 2016/2017, and why they attempted to stay silent again this time. We have no hope for real change because the people we are relying on to help solve this issue and change the culture are part of the problem themselves. They aren’t going to hold themselves accountable.

We will be sharing some information about some of the men we have heard credible allegations about to avoid another situation in the future where a victim publicly comes forward and Dirty Hit says they’re “shocked” to hear about it. There’s no more being “shocked”, especially when you’re part of the problem.

Some of the men we have heard credible allegations about include:

• Three of the four members of The 1975
• Someone in upper management at Dirty Hit
• A touring musician for The 1975 who is a very good friend of theirs (the band and label were made aware of his behaviour years ago, and he was saved from being fired by one of the three band members referenced above. He has continued his gross behaviour as recently as 2020 and has been monitoring this situation daily via his girlfriend’s Instagram account)
• A crew member for The 1975 (these claims were made publicly on Twitter)
• A former (“former” is questionable) friend of the band (the band and label are also very aware of this person and what they’ve done)

Because of the serious nature of one of these cases where a victim has allegedly been legally threatened into silence, we can’t tell you who is accused of what. However, soon after we put out a call for stories about others associated with Dirty Hit, the person this victim accused undertook an action on social media (which is still visible right now) that would slightly hinder us from exposing them publicly if we were going to.

We have been in touch with Rianna Croxford, an investigative journalist at the BBC, who has spoken with multiple victims already. If you have any stories about the behaviour of men associated with Dirty Hit and The 1975, please contact Rianna at the following email address: rianna.croxford@bbc.co.uk or DM her on social media (@The_Crox on Twitter, @rianna_croxford on Instagram). Please note that if a story is published, you are able to remain anonymous. 

As big fans of The 1975, this situation has been awful for us to deal with. Our motivations have always been wanting The 1975’s fandom to be a safe place for us and everyone else. We also want the fandoms of other Dirty Hit artists to be safe. Young people are at risk here, and this situation has not been handled with the seriousness it should have been. The culture needs to change. There’s no more excuses.

Time’s Up. #MeToo