Every time I find out that another celebrity has been accused of being sexually abusive, I feel disgusted and horrified.
These same emotions came up when Garrett Borns, known as the singer BØRNS, was accused of being an abuser and a pedophile, except much worse.
For the past three years, I had been a huge fan of BØRNS. I listened to his debut album a million times, tweeted him constantly, and even went to see him perform at a music festival. He seemed kind and respectful, which only makes me feel even more terrified. He knew that his fans held this same image of him, so he used it to his advantage.
A woman on Twitter with the handle @kaliforxnia bravely came forward and shared with the world that BØRNS befriended her at a concert in 2015 and he allegedly used their friendship to manipulate her into having sex with him. She explained that when they became friends, it was at "a time when I didn't have a best friend or someone close to talk to about the small things."
BØRNS became a close friend and they texted for months, but then after guest listing her at one of his shows in Chicago, his true intentions came through. He invited her back to his hotel room, which she declined, and then he asked her again after the next show, to which her answer was still no.
This led to BØRNS ignoring her messages for months because he did not get what he wanted from her, and since he had convinced this woman that he cared about her because of the many months of texts they exchanged, she decided to reach out to him again. He once again went back to making sexual advances at her and asked her to meet him for drinks and sent an address. The woman stated, "I expected a bar but ended up at his place."
BØRNS then made drinks while talking to her and acting like he actually cared about her once again, but once she was drunk enough, he took advantage of her. The woman recounted that
"Once everything happened I went to the bathroom and started bleeding. I was completely shocked from the blood and started to get it together and realized what just happened. I blamed myself for that night because I didn't say no even though I was intoxicated. Once I came out of the bathroom he tried to comfort me and acted like everything was okay and tried to make me feel special. Of course I fell for it and blamed myself for getting drunk and letting it happen."
Fans of BØRNS, that shockingly still exist despite these allegations, have been tweeting this woman and telling her that everything that happened to her was her fault and that she should have expected this kind of behavior from a musician.
You think she should have anticipated that the months of them having thoughtful conversations was him actually just manipulating her into having sex with him? You think she should have known that he would sexually abuse her when he made it seem like he cared for her?
And if that woman's story was not bad enough, another woman also came forward with her own story.
Her Twitter handle is @alyssaadaniele and she met BØRNS at a music festival when she was 16 years old. She posted a photo on Instagram of when they met, which led to BØRNS messaging her and them starting a conversation.
He then allegedly followed the same pattern as with the other woman. He made her feel special and invited her to his hotel, which she thought would just be them innocently hanging out when in reality his motive was to inappropriately place his hands on her. He knew that she was 16, and yet he continued to touch her.
He kept up this "friendship" with her by giving her compliments one day and then completely ignoring her the next. When she was 17, their conversations evolved into BØRNS asking her questions that "fed into his fetishes" all while saying what he wanted to do to her and that he wanted her to send him pictures.
She sent him what he wanted out of fear of losing him as a friend, which caused BØRNS to use her as an object of his desire.
By the time the woman turned 18, she had been groomed by BØRNS for so long that he was able to take advantage of her in Los Angeles. She stated,
"He got me drunk, started touching me, and we went into his bedroom. The things he did were things I did not want, and it hurt. He was aggressive and controlling and I was so fucking scared of him."
My heart goes out to both of these women and anyone else that may have had similar experiences with BØRNS. I am furious that he allegedly used the love that they had for his music as a way to pull them into forming a "friendship" with him for his own perverted pleasure.
These women have nothing to gain from lying about their stories, but BØRNS has everything to lose if he admits to being an abuser and pedophile.