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In the summer of 2021, a man identified as John Doe sued Afrika Bambaataa, accusing the hip-hop pioneer of sexually abusing him and sex trafficking him between 1991 and 1995. The alleged abuse began when Doe was 12 years old, while Bambaataa would have been 33 or 34 years old.
Bambaataa, whose legal name is Lance Taylor, never entered a legal response to Doe’s lawsuit, so Judge Alexander M. Tisch has now granted a default judgment against him “without opposition,” online New York court records show. As a result, Bambaataa has effectively lost the lawsuit, and “an assessment of damages against defendant Lance Taylor shall be referred to a Special Referee for inquest.”
Pitchfork was unable to reach Bambaataa in 2021, and contacts for the musician have not responded to new requests for comment. Pitchfork has also reached out to Doe’s attorneys, Hugo G. Ortega and Rehan Nazrali, for comment on the judgment.
John Doe filed his lawsuit some five years after Ronald Savage came forward to say that Afrika Bambaataa sexually abused him, in the 1980s, when he was a minor. Bambaataa denied Savage’s claims, calling them “baseless” and “false,” but, shortly after, more men alleged that they were also sexually abused as children by the musician. Bambaataa denied those claims, too, and he has since largely stayed out of the public eye.
If you or someone you know has been affected by sexual assault, we encourage you to reach out for support:
RAINN National Sexual Assault Hotline
https://www.rainn.org
1 800 656 HOPE (4673)
Crisis Text Line
SMS: Text “HELLO” or “HOLA” to 741-741