*CLARIFICATION: The original headline has been clarified to describe the new accuser as “someone who say she’s a previous survivor.” The Mercury regrets any implication in the prior headline that the new accuser’s claims have been finally decided by the judicial process as that process has not yet been concluded.
A Portland musician apologized on Facebook for sexually assaulting a woman recently. Others say he’s abused women before, and one told the Mercury she just filed a report against him with the Portland Police Bureau for an incident that happened about six years ago.
“I’ve done something reprehensible that I need to own up to,” wrote musician Joel Magid on Facebook on Sunday. “I recently sexually assaulted someone. In this encounter, I pulled out my penis, and forcibly lifted the woman’s skirt. A friend intervened and stopped my behavior. I was blacked out drunk when this happened and don’t remember any of the situation. That doesn’t excuse what I did.”
Magid’s statement on sexually assaulting the woman—where he also declared he’s going to go to Alcoholics Anonymous meetings and will seek therapy—has spread all over the country and world in the days since it was posted. It first landed on Oregonlive then spread to outlets like SF Gate, the New York Post, Elite Daily, and the Daily Mail.
A commenter on Magid’s Facebook post called him “brave” for acknowledging the recent incident. Others lauded his “transparency.”
And that didn’t sit well with Portland woman Erica Ordway, also known as Wanda Bones, who says she was sexually assaulted by Magid nearly six years ago. (XRAY.fm Music Director and DJ Theo Craig did call out Magid in his post, saying he “need(s) to admit this wasn’t the first time.” Magid responded: “I cannot accept responsibility to things I haven’t done.”)
“For the past 2 days I have been living in hell,” Ordway wrote in her Facebook post, which she gave the Mercury permission to share. “I have recently discovered that the man who sexually assaulted (i.e. raped) me almost 6 years ago has publicly announced his apology to his most current victim… I would love to be presented with a half assed apology 6 years too late for what you did to me, still waiting bud. Now let me fill you in on some things that I have gone through for the past 6 years.”
Read Ordway’s post below. The Mercury left a voice message with Magid and we will update this post with his response, should it come in:
Ordway tells the Mercury that she filed a police report against Magid this morning.
Police spokesperson Pete Simpson said that the bureau was forwarded Magid’s September 3 Facebook post and the sex crimes unit is currently investigating it. Prosecuting the crime Magid admitted to would require the survivor to come forward and identify herself, he said. Then investigators would need to verify that Magid actually wrote the post himself (and not, say, someone else using his account) and that it happened in Oregon.
If you are a survivor of sexual assault and would like some assistance, please check out the Oregon Sexual Assault Task Force website for resources. Also, feel free to reach out to these organizations:
•Multnomah County Victims’ Assistance Program. Office: 503-988-3222.
•Portland Women’s Crisis Line. Office: 503-232-9751. Crisis line: 503-235-5333. Toll free: 888-235-5333.
•Victim Rights Law Center. Office: 503-274-5477. Intake hotline 503-274-5477 x6.
•Rape, Abuse and Incest National Network. Hotline: 1800-656-4673.
The Mercury plans on further covering sexual assault and harassment in the Portland music community. If you would like to confidentially get in touch with us, contact music editor Ciara Dolan at cdolan@portlandmercury.com or news reporter Doug Brown at doug@portlandmercury.com.
This will be fun, admitted rapist denies other rape.
Hopefully there are witnesses to the other rapes. He needs to be in jail.
Don’t forget folks, when a celebrity is accused of domestic violence, it’s something that can be made into a joke and the alleged victim can be discredited:
(Johnny Depp/Amber Heard: http://www.portlandmercury.com/one-day-a… / http://www.portlandmercury.com/one-day-a… )
No “hotline” numbers are given, no faux indignation expressed… it’s a joke!
Let’s recap… according to The Mercury:
Rape: Bad
Domestic Violence: Funny!
When I first saw this article I thought, “great… Can’t say I am surprised that another Portland musician is a rapist.” I don’t know why I felt compelled to look up your Facebook, but I was. It also did not surprise me that we know some of the same people. It did not surprise me because my own rapist knows a lot of the same people that I do. He’s in a band with one of my best friends, and I had considered him a friend until he took away a piece of who I am, and then discarded me like a piece of garbage.
My own rapist considers himself a feminist, and posts feminist content on social media. My own rapist told me he “can’t control himself” when I’m around and that what he did was inevitable because I had been drinking. My own rapist denies that what he did is rape, because I was too drunk to stop it. I needed a friend that night, but he was not a friend to me in the slightest.
The denial and doubt regarding the “legitimacy” of my own rape has caused me to keep this unbearable secret to myself and other trusted friends. It enrages me that he continues on, without guilt. It enrages me that a couple of my closest friends think I’m overreacting. It enrages me that he will probably do this to another woman at some point, and it enrages me that she will also not be believed.
I strongly suggest that you at the very least give the other women you assaulted the acknowledgement that what you did to them was unacceptable. As a survivor, I know that this will not take away their pain, but you do at the very least owe them the decency.