Shamir

Shamir pulls "Straight Boy" video after director was accused of sexual assault

Shamir

Shamir has pulled the music video for his song “Straight Boy,” after the video’s director and co-star Ryan Carpenter was accused of sexual assault. In a series of tweets, Shamir wrote:

So I had to take down the Straight Boy video because as it turns out the actor and director in the video is an abuser… I know.. the irony. Turns out out you can’t even find cishet guy thats not a shitty person to even play a shitty person. and above all im sorry to the survivors and thank yall for letting me know!

Shamir told OUT that he learned of the news while reading YouTube comments on the video. One read, “That white guy is Ryan Carpenter and he is from Tampa and rapred my friend and other people… a lot of peeps kno that guy n he has a rep #metoo. Shamir stands with rapists.”

Shamir says he reached out to Carpenter for comment and was met with “nonchalance.” Here’s more of what Shamir told OUT:

A while back he actually told me a story where someone accused him of abuse in college, but apparently it was all a misunderstanding. He talked it out with the school police, and the authorities, and the person, and everything was sorted. I also was with his friend from college, and his friend concurred.

I cut all ties with him, told him I was going to get rid of the video, took down the video, and made my statement this morning. I said [to him], ‘This is horrible. You’re obviously an alleged rapist. I don’t know your reputation back home because we met in Brooklyn.’ We filmed the video in LA, and I went to Florida once, so I don’t know his reputation. I didn’t know. I wouldn’t have worked with him.

Shamir replaced the video with a video of himself playing “Straight Boy” acoustic that begins with him saying, “Fuck sexual abuse. Fuck rapists.” You can watch that, and see his tweets and a screenshot of the YouTube comment, below.

“Straight Boy” is on Shamir’s new album Revelations, which comes out on Father/Daughter Records this week. His tour with Partner includes a Brooklyn show on December 14 at new venue Elsewhere, which had its grand opening last night (tickets).

Shamir