Another day, another creep to call out. Can Slam Dunk Festival founder Ben Ray please come to the front? You’ve got some explaining to do.
Yesterday, British actress and showgirl Jenny Miller blasted social media accusing Ray of sexual assault. She says the two were friends with a working relationship where she would sometimes dance for him with STRICT rules prohibiting touching, but that he broke those rules after doing some illicit substances.
Miller posted the following statement, along with a picture of Ray, on her Instagram and Facebook accounts:
“This man sexually assaulted me multiple times on separate occasions and raped me while I was passing out from the coke he provided me.
“I am in the process of pressing charges against him for all the trauma he gave me. He was my friend and I trusted him. He would pay me to dance for him coz he was stripper-obsessed and I was broke, but the rules are do not touch me ever. When I was passing out, begging him to stop and get off me, he pulled my knickers to the side and went down on me. I wasn’t strong enough to get him off of me.
“I would tell him repeated to get the fuck of me and he wouldn’t and then he would try harder.
“The man is vile. I told his wife, now ex-wife, what he did to me and what he was doing behind her back. She was doing IVF at the time to try and have his babies.
“I became close friends with him in the strip club because he was offering me a job to work for him as a stripper at his festival for rockstars in the VIP and he wanted to open his own strip club. He also knew a lot of my friends in bands so I trusted him, but he’s a predator and rapist and everyone should know.”
Along with those posts, Miller shared a screen shot of texts between the two where Ray said he has “no anger left” towards Miller after she told Ray’s wife about everything that happened.
At the time, Ray had not released a statement. Fast forward to now, where the Slam Dunk Festival themselves released a statement saying how “one of its directors” has stepped down from festival operations while he deals with the allegations. While Ray wasn’t identified by name, who the fuck else would it be considering it all.
The festival’s statement reads:
“We are aware of allegations published yesterday relating to one of our directors. We take these allegations seriously and understand that they may be distressing and hard to process for our community.
“Our Slam Dunk fans, staff, and artists are, as always, our top priority. While he strongly refutes these allegations, the director in question has agreed, in consultation with the board, to step down from Slam Dunk operations while this matter is ongoing.
“Slam Dunk remains committed to maintaining a safe, respectful, and inclusive environment for all employees, partners and customers. Our values and culture are fundamental to how we operate, and we are committed to upholding them.
“It would be inappropriate for us to comment further on an ongoing legal matter.
“However, we promise transparency and honesty to our Slam Dunk community and will provide updates when it is appropriate to do so.”
Again, it sucks that every other dude seems to be on some creepy shit, but it sucks x2 how so many of them seem to be involved in music. Emo music, at that. Slam Dunk was like another Warped Tour with who they booked—everyone from Fall Out Boy to Paramore to Every time I Die. This year, the fest is taking place next month, with Knocked Loose, Good Charlotte, and Taking Back Sunday among the many set to perform.
I mean, it’s good the fest is still happening and all, but golly, let’s hope no more creeps emerge in between the sets.
