Panic! at the Disco Announce Departure Of Guitarist Kenny Harris

Another Career Ruined By Sexual Assault Allegations

Over the past weekend, yet another star was accused of sexual assault. This time, it was Kenny Harris, Panic! at the Disco's lead touring guitarist. Harris has been with the band since 2013 and allegations come out against him via twitter on September 22nd. On the same day as the allegations, Panic! at the Disco tweeted "Touring musician Kenny Harris will no longer be touring with us due to a personal issue." While it has not been confirmed that the two events are related, it's easy to put two and two together.

This news was very shocking and disappointing to me. I'm a huge fan of Panic! at the Disco and have even seen them live in 2016. Because I was in disbelief of this news, I looked further into twitter at the screenshots and thread about the allegations and was thoroughly disgusted. It's truly a shame that someone I looked up to and inspired me turned out to be a pedophile. When famous artists create social media accounts, their biggest fans will try to reach out to them. Young fans crave a connection with their idols. Kenny received selfies from teen-aged fans with captions about how they adored him but he abused his power and took the fan-to-artist relationship to an inappropriate level. He knew that his fans would crave any type connection with him and wouldn't twice when he asked for favors. But someone spoke up and the correct action was taken. This situation will definitely leave an impact in the music industry. These types allegations have brought about movements like #timesup and #metoo but have mostly been within the film industry. Now that fans aren't afraid to speak out about their experiences with musicians, the music industry should be looking forward to some more of this shocking news. There is always more going on behind the scenes than we, as music fans, know. If a musician is accused of sexual assault in the future, they will lose vital sponsorships and partnerships. They will also lose a loyal fanbase once evidence is released. In this particular situation though, I would expect to see Panic! at the Disco's sales to rise in the next week because of the attention this has brought to them and because they made the correct move.