After numerous allegations of child molestation, Afrika Bambaataa gave his first interview with Fox 5’s Lisa Evers on May 11. During the interview, Bambaataa strongly denied the allegations against him and said they actually came as a shock. "I never abused nobody. You know, it just sounds crazy to people to say that, hear 'you abused me,'" Bambaataa said. "You know my thing is you know all my people back then, you know the hundreds of people that been around me. If something like that happened, why you never went to none of them?"
In an exclusive interview with The New York Daily News in April, Ronald Savage claimed the hip-hop icon sexually abused him in 1980 when Savage was only 15 years old.
Savage wrote about his traumatic experience in his new self-published memoir, Impulse, Urges and Fantasies (Life Is a Bag of Mixed Emotions): The True Untold Story of Pioneer Hip Hop Artist Liaison Bee-Stinger. Savage said he decided to speak out to help change New York’s statute of limitations, which currently prevent sexual abuse victims from pursuing criminal charges or civil penalties after turning 23.
In the interview with Fox, Bambaataa strongly denied that he ever touched Savage in an inappropriate way. "And stop all this type of craziness that they been trying to put by attacking me," he said. "I ain't touched this brother whatsoever."
A week after Savage’s interview, Hassan Campbell and two other men came forward with more sexual abuse allegations against Bambaataa. In another exclusive with The New York Daily News, Campbell explained how Bambaataa helped him as a child. The icon provided Campbell meals and a place to stay. "He had the most fun house in the world," said Campbell. "There were celebrities there, musicians, neighborhood heroes. It was the best place to be - and the worst place to be."
Campbell alleges Bambaataa sexually abused him several times when he was 12 and 13 years old.
Shortly after, Bambaataa’s Zulu Nation issued a statement stating they were under new leadership. The statement did not directly name its co-founder for the restructure, but noted “"ALL accused parties and those accused of covering up the current allegations of child molestation have been removed and have stepped down from their current positions."
Watch the full Fox 5 interview above.
