The four founding members of pop-punk band All Time Low filed a libel lawsuit Thursday against at least three people who claimed in recent social media posts that the group sexually harassed or assaulted teen fans.
The bold move escalates the legal stakes for the embattled emo rockers and will undoubtedly generate even more scrutiny after the Maryland-bred quartet issued an all-caps statement last October denying the online claims.
The complaint, obtained by Rolling Stone, claims the band has no idea who the online accusers are, leaving them “no choice but to mobilize and utilize the civil court system to identify the culprits, prove that the defamatory statements are false, and seek justice.”
“The purpose of the lawsuit is to establish the unambiguous truth and quash these malicious lies so that they won’t be repeated in the future,” the nine-page complaint filed in Los Angeles County Superior Court states.
The band members – identified as lead guitarist Jack Barakat, singer/guitarist Alex Gaskarth, bass player Zack Merrick and drummer Rian Dawson – say they plan to “utilize discovery including subpoenas to uncover the identities of those that defamed them.”
“Regrettably, this is the only course remaining to properly restore their reputations and repair the damage to their business. [The band] will then donate any proceeds derived from this litigation to charities that support victims of sexual abuse,” the lawsuit states.
The allegations against the band went viral in...
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