The vocalist of the German industrial metal band Rammstein, Till Lindemann, faces accusations of sexual assault from various women in the media in recent days, which reveal a real system of attracting female spectators so that the aforementioned abused them after the concerts . Although the musical group that sells the most albums in the world denied the accusations, he specified that it “takes them very seriously.” Lindemann, 60, struck back on Thursday by announcing legal measures.
The case started at the end of May, when a 24-year-old Irish woman accused the singer and lyricist on social networks of having drugged and sexually assaulted her after a concert that same month in Vilnius (Lithuania). Her testimony provoked a cascade of statements from other young women, who described a similar modus operandi. They were located in the zero row of the performances, in front of the stage, where they were supposedly filmed or photographed so that Lindemann could choose. Later, they were invited to backstage parties, where some were reportedly drugged or encouraged to drink alcohol, and were then sexually assaulted by the musician, or intimidated into accepting the situation.
“These accusations are, without exception, false. We will immediately take legal action against the persons responsible for all such allegations,” the singer’s lawyers, Simon Bergmann and Christian Schertz, wrote in a statement yesterday. According to the newspaper Die Welt, an assistant to the band, Alena Makeeva, a Russian national, was in charge of inviting the girls to backstage parties, and she has been fired from her.
The revelations have caused a scandal in Germany, where Rammstein began an international tour on Wednesday with a concert at the Olympic Stadium in Munich where, despite the outrage expressed on social networks by many fans, the capacity was completed. In the four concerts in Munich, row zero has been suppressed, by decision of the organizers. The band will perform in Madrid on June 23. Despite the fact that some buyers are reselling their tickets as a rejection, in most of the performances planned in European cities, the locations have sold out or the sale is progressing quickly.
The band, founded in 1994 by musicians from the former GDR, chose to call itself Rammstein to poke fun at a 1988 air disaster at the US base on German soil in Ramstein (they added an e to it). Their spectacular staging with fireworks and ideological provocations have earned them accusations of proximity to Nazism, which they deny. They have always maintained links with Russia, and now, in the midst of the Russian war of aggression in Ukraine, their international tour includes a concert in Saint Petersburg on September 30.
