Tool’s Maynard James Keenan: Rape Allegation Is ‘Despicable False Claim’

Tool’s Maynard James Keenan denied accusations that he raped a 17-year-old woman in 2000, calling the allegation a “despicable false claim.”

“Many thanks to those of you who saw right through this despicable false claim that only does damage to the #MeToo movement,” Keenan wrote on Twitter. “And shame on those of you who perpetuate this destructive clickbait. As for my delayed but un-required response, I had my phone off. You should try it.”

Last Friday, an anonymous woman took to Twitter using the handle @IWas17HeWas36. She claimed Keenan raped her after a Nine Inch Nails concert, which featured Keenan’s other band, A Perfect Circle, as the opener. The woman alleged that Keenan, then 36, spotted her in the crowd, took her back to his tour bus, put a movie on and began touching her and taking off his clothes.

“I froze so he had to move my body into a missionary position,” said the woman, who claimed she was 17 at the time. “He pulled off my cargo pants. He forced himself in ”“ there was no attempt at ‘warming up.’ I mention this because this wasn’t about sex. This was about raping me as fast as he could”¦ There was no consent made. I was not high. I was clean. He did not seduce me, he forced me, quickly taking advantage of my paralyzed state.

The woman also claimed that Keenan penetrated her without a condom and gave her a strain of HPV, “which thankfully was not the cancerous type.” She said she kept her story a secret for years because she felt she “wasn’t going to be believed by [t]he legion of dedicated fans,” adding, “I’ve carried a sense of deep shame from this assault for many years. I thought it was my fault. How could I let him do this to me? But he was 36. I was 17. He knew exactly what he was getting away with.”