Maynard James Keenan Case Opens Can of Worms: More Fans Recount Instances of Similar Abuse

Last weekend, a Twitter thread by the handle @Iwas17HeWas36 emerged, chronicling a traumatic incident that allegedly took place 18 years ago. In the tweets, a 35-year-old woman accuses rock vocalist Maynard James Keenan (from Tool and A Perfect Circle) of raping her when she was 17.

In 2000, along with her high school boyfriend, the woman went to watch A Perfect Circle and Nine Inch Nails concert, she posted. “We were in the front row and my boyfriend had his arms around me. The band started. Maynard noticed me in the crowd.” She adds, “Not that it matters what I wore, but I was wearing a NIN tank top and baggy cargo pants with flat-soled combat boots.”

After exchanging pleasantries, Keenan invited her over to a tour bus and forced himself upon her. “He penetrated my vagina without a condom, moving rapidly, while I lay there frozen in a stunned silence. If I sound clinical it’s because it has been a long time and I have tried to push down any sort of fear or shame that comes with a rape,” she says.

She also tweeted saying she learnt from a friend that Keenan did this “in every city, at every show.”

The ”˜Iwas17HeWas36’ Twitter thread has amassed several comments from other women recounting similar ordeals. Twitter user Amanda Beneke (@333Amanda333) alleges she was gang-raped by Polish extreme death metal band Behemoth in 2006: “I was drugged by the band Behemoth. What I remember is coming in and out of consciousness- being on stage in an empty arena, spotlights, laughter and a penis in my face,” she recounts, adding, “The last coming to event I found myself tangled in barbed wire atop a fence. Out of breath running for my life.”

In a second Tweet, Beneke explains, “It was 2006 [music festival] Sounds of the Underground. I felt safe as a guest and rep of the local rock station. Stupidly asked for a beer backstage that took 20 minutes to get – it was opened when I got it. And daylight. Next thing I remember was tweeted above.”

The recent social media-led crusade against crimes against women–as witnessed globally through the #MeToo campaign since October 2017””has seen hundreds of women across the world speaking up about the dreadful experiences they have been through. The woman who was allegedly sexually abused by Keenan also stated, “It has been 18 years and I’m still working through the trauma of that assault. #MeToo and #TimesUp has been an eye opener. I hope that everyone gets a chance to heal. I hope I can heal. Maybe telling your story is part of the healing process for victims of sexual assault.”