Content warning: the following article contains descriptions of alleged sexual encounters that some may find triggering or offensive.
Dance Gavin Dance singer Tilian Pearson has released a statement in response to sexual assault allegations brought against him on social media.
On June 1, a Reddit user posted about a recent encounter with Pearson around the time his band played at the SwanFest on April 23 in Sacramento, California. She claims to have first sent Pearson “an extremely thirsty message” on Instagram while “under the influence of something,” and that his initial response was “a little weird.” As per the post, they exchanged phone numbers and decided to meet up for a “date.” She says they both got drunk and then headed to the singer’s residence. Pearson is said to have been upset because his band’s bassist had died unexpectedly only a few days prior, but also at the thought of her leaving him a little later.
“I knew he was pretty drunk and going through an extremely stressful time, so I helped him through it, and I was genuinely happy to do so. I was comfortable enough now to finish what I started, but at one point this man had decided to straight up slap me across the face. Obviously, it was in an attempt to be ~sexy~ but it ended up REALLY hurting. I voiced this like, ‘Hey, uh. That’s cool and all but could you ask next time, and maybe not do it as hard?’ He heard me, hesitated for a second, and then did it again. I mean. Hard enough to throw my hearing out of whack and have me black out for a few seconds – it wasn’t cool,” she wrote.
After SwanFest, the two met up again at his AirBNB. She claims that Pearson took offense when she tried to set personal boundaries while they were getting intimate.
“He wouldn’t say anything, just grab me and put me back on. It physically hurt. It wasn’t okay, and I voiced that it wasn’t, but he never cared to listen. After all that, I didn’t reeeeally [sic] want to stay the night with him, but he insisted. He gets into this weird ‘snuggling’ position and I … legitimately could not move. I was starting to get a little freaked out and tried to tell him I should leave, but again. He wouldn’t let me. He kept insisting I had to stay the night with him, and he wouldn’t let me go,” she recollects.
This pattern of behavior by Pearson is said to have continued over the following days.
“I tried SO HARD to make excuses for him, to the point of blaming myself for a lot of it. & I know everyone reading this is probably like ‘why would you do that’ — I think we’re all guilty of running back to people that are bad for us. It’s hard to shake, especially when you care so much about them,” the post continues.
In his response, Pearson denies any allegations of wrongdoing. He admits to being “very vulnerable” but that “every sexual act was purely consensual.”
According to Loudwire, more allegations subsequently surfaced on Twitter that resemble the details of the first Reddit post.
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