ACL Festival 2017 Weekend 2, Day 2
Photo by Tim Griffin

Mandy Moore & Karen Elson respond to Ryan Adams' apology for abuse & sexual misconduct

A year and a half after being accused of sexual misconduct and abuse by multiple women, Ryan Adams issued a new apology over the weekend, saying that he’d gotten sober with professional help. “To a lot of people this will just seem like the same empty bull***t apology that I’ve always used when I was called out,” he wrote, “and all I can say is, this time it is different.”

Singer and model Karen Elson had spoken out about having her own “traumatizing experience with Ryan Adams” after the allegations originally surfaced in a New York Times report. Now she’s responded after this apology from Adams, as well. “My thoughts on Ryan Adam,” she writes on Twitter. “I believe in redemption and amends even for him. However he has not reached out to me since 2018 to apologize for his terrible behavior. In fact back then he called a liar which added more pain and made me disillusioned with the entire music industry.”

In a reply, a Twitter user shared a screencap from a 2017 Instagram where Karen thanks Adams and his crew for having her along on tour. “Leaving with happy memories! We will miss you all!” she writes in the Instagram post. “Hi karen, so which story is true?!,” @01lucasm asks.

“A lot happened after the tour,” Karen replied. “His crew, former team and band all treated me with respect and many of them have apologized to me since also. I was grateful for the opportunity but it went rapidly down hill. Please don’t try to shame me when you’ve not lived my experience.”

“His team and band were so kind to me it was the last show so I expressed my gratitude,” she continued. “But I also experienced a lot of toxicity behind the scenes and more afterwards. I am willing to forgive if he’s genuine but I’ve seen him do this before. Let’s hope . His actions going forward will dictate the sincerity of his statement and if I’m able to forgive. I‘ve never demanded anyone to boycott his music. I’m just expressing my opinions on my personal experience and mine pales in comparison to others.”

UPDATE: Adams’ ex-wife Mandy Moore, who told The New York Times that she considered him “psychologically abusive,” has also responded to his new statement. Asked how she felt about it on The Today Show, she said, “Um, you know, it’s challenging because I feel like in many ways I’ve said all I want to say about him and that situation, but I find it curious that someone would make a public apology but not do it privately.”

“Speaking for myself, I’ve not heard from him,” she continued. “I’m not looking for an apology necessarily, but l do find it curious that someone would do an interview about it without actually making amends privately.”

Watch a clip of her Today Show appearance below.