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Image via YACHT on Facebook
UPDATE: According to text obtained by Jezebel, YACHT’s sex tape was a hoax. Read the band’s apparent pitch below.
“For the upcoming music video for our song, ‘I Wanna Fuck You Til I’m Dead,’ we’re faking a sex tape leak.
In the days leading up to the video’s release, we’re going to pretend we were hacked, share and delete confessional social media posts on the subject of our privacy, then try to “get out in front of it” and sell the sex tape, fake a server crash, etc.”
YACHT have been making music together since 2002, but frontwoman and frontman Claire L. Evans and Jona Bechtolt have also been romantically involved since 2006. Today, the duo shared some distressing news: a private sex tape—intended for the eyes of Evans and Bechtolt only—ended up in the hands of “one morally abject person” and was shared online, as Exclaim! points out.
Addressing this violation via Facebook, YACHT shared their concerns not only as a band that has met hard times, delving into the decline of album sales and the bleak economy of putting on a tour, but also as public figures who feel exploited.
At first, Evans and Bechtolt urged their fans to “make the right decision” and that even if fans don’t, that they hope fans will “continue to enjoy our music regardless of what [they’ve] seen.” But after spending some time researching sex tapes and realizing that celebrities who had encountered the same violation never saw a dime from their tapes, YACHT decided to distribute the video directly to those who want to see it.
Admitting that they have no control over what has already happened, they will be selling this sex tape for $5, asking individuals not to stream it or download it via an external source.
“We beg of you to download the video, Louis C.K.-style, directly from us,” YACHT asks, introducing a newly created website for the tape. Louis C.K. is known for asking fans of Louie to purchase episodes directly from him instead of downloading/streaming it.
Read YACHT’s initial statement via their Facebook, as well as a message from Evans and Bechtolt via their new site below.
If you’re here, it’s because you want to see a sex tape made by Claire Evans and Jona Bechtolt of the band YACHT. That’s okay—we’re not here to judge. A video that we made privately has been released to the public. We have commenced legal proceedings against the individual who made it available without our consent. That said, we don’t have any illusion that this tape is ever going to vanish completely from the internet.
Instead, we’ve created a platform for you to purchase and download the video directly from us. If you absolutely must see this video, we ask that you refrain from downloading it from a torrent, or streaming it on a tube site. Controlling how this video is seen, and who profits from it, is the only form of agency we have left over this exploitative situation.
Please do the right thing. Thank you for your support.
With love and respect,
Claire and Jona
