Jackie Fuchs, Kim Fowley Rape Controversy: Rocker Says She Was Drugged, Raped By Fowley


Jackie Fuchs, former bassist of the all-female rock band The Runaways, says she was raped by her former manager and producer of the band, Kim Fowley, in 1975. According to testimony Fuchs gave Jason Cherkis from the Huffington Post, Fuchs claims she was drugged and attacked during a hotel after-party. Jackie Fuchs, who uses the stage name Jackie Fox, was only 16 at the time.

According to her, the attack was witnessed by several people, among which were the guitarist Joan Jett and lead singer, Cherie Currie. Kari Krome, songwriter for the Runaways, corroborated Fuchs’ story and said she was also sexually assaulted by Fowley. She was also a teenager at the time.

“You don’t know what terror is until you realize something bad is about to happen to you and you can’t move a muscle. I remember opening my eyes, Kim Fowley was raping me, and there were people watching me… I can’t move. I can’t speak. All I can do is look him in the eye and do the best I can do to communicate: please say no… I don’t know what it looked like from the outside. But I know what was going on inside and it was horror.”

The above statement is from Jackie Fuchs, who eventually quit the Runaways in 1977 due to the band members’ inability to get along with each other.

Although Joan Jett denies witnessing the event, Currie says she spoke out against the attack and “stormed out of the room” the night of the incident. According to Yahoo! Music, Currie also alleges that Fuchs told her not to mention the incident in her memoir. The singer told the Huffington Post that the rape was never discussed by the band. However, Victory Tischler-Blue, who replaced Fuchs in the band, said the crime was always talked about by band members.

“I heard about that nonstop,” she said. “They would talk about Kim f**king Jackie like a dog. It was kind of a running joke.”

Kim Fowley, who died last January, was the Runaways’ manager and one of the pioneers of punk music in the United States. He is often said to be the inspiration behind the band’s formation. Fowley has been described as “one of the most colorful characters in the annals of rock & roll” and as “a shadowy cult figure well outside the margins of the mainstream.”

[Image courtesy of Michael Buckner / Getty Images Entertainment]

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