Crimes and Court
"I want to unreservedly apologise to her for what I did and for the distress and hurt I caused that night," former Black Midi singer says. "It was a huge mistake"
A woman who claims to have been sexually assaulted by the musician Geordie Greep has shared details of the incident that occurred earlier this month. Speaking to Paste under the pseudonym Laura, she clarifies Greep did not rape her, despite claims made on unauthorized flyers handed out to fans at his recent concert in Vancouver. Still, she said, Greep kissed her while she was asleep and unable to consent.
Laura said she met Greep and his bandmates at a bar before ending up at the nearby apartment of another woman, by which point she “found him unpleasant” and only briefly engaged in conversation with the singer before falling asleep. “It got very late, I was very drunk, and I fell asleep on the couch. I then woke up to him kissing me, and no, not just a peck,” she said. “If I’d had a couple more drinks and didn’t wake up when I did, I don’t know what would have happened.”
In her statement, Laura attempts to set the record straight regarding the misinformation spread through flyers a man attending Greep’s concert distributed at the show on Oct. 8, which read: “Geordie Greep A Rapist. You know what you did this morning Oct 8th. He thinks he can do what he wants. Let Him Know What Vancouver Thinks of Rapists.” She told Paste her “voice was taken away when those flyers were handed out and this became public. My story was twisted and made public without my consent.”
Laura stressed in her statement that while she was not raped, “I was sexually assaulted, and [it was] more than a kiss taken the wrong way.” She added, “I don’t think that his assault should be diminished because of this. What he did was absolutely not okay, and should be taken seriously.” She expressed concern that a misinterpretation of language could lead to rape victims being discredited and mistrusted.
“I feel very strongly that the word rape should only be used for rape. We need to be able to trust when someone says rape. Using that language when it’s not the truth diminishes it and takes away from its meaning,” she said. “I very much hope that people don’t learn from this not to trust rape accusations, especially when they come from the actual victim. A man who was mad made the false claim, not the victim. I want that to be very clear.”
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During the Vancouver concert, Greep shared his version of events, which omitted any specific details about the night. He detailed the outing at the bar, then said he “ended up in a situation where, really late at a house party, I got the wrong end of the stick with someone who was there, and I made a move, and it didn’t come off.” He said he apologized and described it as “a complete misunderstanding on my part,” before similarly clarifying it was not an instance of rape. “I felt extremely bad, I feel extremely sorry, and extremely upset about the whole situation,” he said. “I would never rape a woman. I’m not a rapist. It’s not how that went down.”
Following publication of the Paste article on Wednesday, Greep shared an additional statement on social media. He claims he fell asleep in an armchair and awoke at 6 a.m., at which point he leaned over to kiss the woman he “mistakenly and stupidly” believed was “interested” in him the night prior. In her statement regarding the apartment gathering, Laura said she “stated that I was in an exclusive relationship and didn’t appreciate advances from anyone there.”
Greep said he “kissed her once and she immediately responded negatively and pushed me away. I apologised and stepped away,” adding, “She was understandably upset and told me to leave. She told me she had been asleep, which to my great regret, I honestly did not realise. I left the apartment but returned a few minutes later as I realised I had not taken my phone. After collecting my phone I left.” Greep said the woman was on “a sofa opposite me alongside three other people who were with us that night.”
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Cameron Campbell, a now-former member of Greep’s band who was present at the time of the alleged assault but did not witness it himself, stood with the victim in a separate statement shared with Paste. “I wasn’t in the room where it occurred. However, I heard the victim’s reaction, which signaled that something was wrong, and saw the immediate aftermath,” Campbell said. “I later spoke directly with her, and she told me that Geordie had kissed her while she was asleep.”
Campbell described the incident as “deeply troubling” and pushed back again Greep’s framing of the night. “Someone who’s asleep can’t consent to being kissed, and I don’t think this should be downplayed as just an awkward romantic ‘move’ that didn’t go as planned,” he said. Campbell did not perform alongside Greep in Vancouver, nor did his other bandmates. During the set, Greep said he “didn’t want to force [his band] to still play a show in the light of that happening,” and that proceeds from the gig would benefit a Vancouver organization supporting victims of sexual violence.
Campbell does not plan on performing with Greep again. “I made the decision to leave because, based on what I witnessed and what I subsequently learned, I couldn’t continue working with Geordie,” he said. “I didn’t blindly quit because of the flyers distributed at the Vancouver show. It wasn’t a decision made lightly, but one I knew I needed to make.” The remainder of dates Greep had scheduled in North America have been cancelled.
Greep’s bassist Dave Strawn joined Campbell in condemning the singer. “I can’t even begin to express my disappointment and anger with Geordie for violating her bodily autonomy. There is no excuse for this, it should never have happened,” Strawn wrote on social media. “Drinking is no excuse. We have to be better.”
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Greep concluded his statement with an apology. “I want to unreservedly apologise to her for what I did and for the distress and hurt I caused that night. It was a huge mistake. I feel awful about it and I am very sorry,” he wrote. “I got it all wrong that night and I accept that. I understand the impact of my actions and take full accountability. I’m not trying to minimise what happened in any way and, again, all I can say is how sorry I am.”
In her statement, Laura said she “never wanted any of this to be public.” In hopes of reframing the conversation, she wrote, “To all the men reading this, I want you to reflect and ask yourself how you can do a little better,” adding, “To the person I trusted who distributed those flyers, to the guys that night who asked me many times if I was sure I was exclusive, to the man who kept calling me hot after I made it clear I wasn’t interested, to the men defending Geordie, to the ones saying I’m making stuff up for attention, to Geordie Greep who assaulted me—none of that was rape, but it was all rooted in misogyny.”