Eat Predators Exposes Sony Music

How Many Predators #sonymusic Rob Stringer?

How Many NDAs Julie Swidler?

Eat Predators supports this open letter, please take the time to read it.

To Mr. ​Rob Stringer​, CEO of Sony Music Entertainment:

Thank you for ending your years-long relationship with recording artist R. Kelly, whose crimes against Black girls and women were made possible with Sony's and RCA Records’ support. It is welcome news in the decades-long effort by Black survivors and their supporters to hold Kelly accountable for the abuse in which Sony was complicit.

However, R. Kelly is not the only abuser you employ or work with. We implore you to review the list of artists and producers you support, as well as your internal sexual harassment and assault policies that have protected perpetrators of abuse.

Choosing to ignore abuse, or worse, glorify a perpetrator of abuse, has a cultural effect far beyond one individual artist. Sony’s actions have time and again told survivors of sexual violence and would-be perpetrators that there will be no consequences for abuse. It is time that this record of complicity come to an end.

While nowhere near a comprehensive list, here are several abusers who continue to profit from your promotion and protection:

● Dr. Luke

● Chris Brown

● Nick Carter of Backstreet Boys

● Steven Tyler of Aerosmith

To ensure you never enable another abuser, we recommend you conduct a thorough review of your internal sexual harassment and assault policies with a focus on protection and prevention. Here are a few recommended next steps:

1. Establish a clear zero tolerance policy applied fairly across race, gender, sexual orientation, and other identities that states your label will drop any artist with an allegation of sexual or domestic violence against them. Note: believing ALL survivors should be your standard, but even those who insist on being skeptical should note that when multiple accusers are coming forward, that provides corroboration of the individual stories, and demonstrates that the behavior is a pattern, not an isolated incident.

Our criminal justice system is stacked against survivors of sexual and domestic violence as well as people of color and Indigenous people. If we as a culture are going to eradicate sexual violence, we can’t rely solely on a response from the justice system to act on social accountability. Your company’s leadership must take it upon themselves to act.

2. Invest in prevention. Conduct annual research-backed, effective sexual harassment and violence prevention trainings for all staff and artists. Training should be provided in a

manner that is accessible to all, including in multiple languages and formats. Conduct

annual climate surveys to track progress or pervasive issues.

3. Increase transparency. Do not require individuals to sign overly broad non-disclosure

agreements as a condition of employment. Do not require individuals to resolve

employment discrimination and harassment claims through forced arbitration.

4. There is no way to quantify the pain or trauma caused by R. Kelly and other abusers you

profit off of, nor completely right those wrongs. However, one positive step forward to begin to repair the damage caused to the survivors is to commit the millions of dollars you made from R. Kelly’s last album to organizations that serve Black and brown survivors of sexual violence and abuse.

We publish this as an open letter because we hope other labels--like Universal, which also promote artists with well-documented histories of abuse--will follow this lead.

Thank you again for your thoughtful consideration.

Sincerely,

UltraViolet

#muterkelly

Girls for Gender Equity

Black Women’s Blueprint

Color of Change

CREDO Action

Care2

NOW

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