Ariel Pink Accused Of Physical And Sexual Abuse By Ex-Girlfriend
It comes just a week after Pink was dropped by his label after he attended the Trump rally in Washington D.C.
Indie musician Ariel Pink has been accused of sexual abuse and misconduct by his former girlfriend and bandmate Charlotte Ercoli Coe.
— Content Warning: This article discusses physical and sexual abuse. —
As reported by Pitchfork, the allegations surfaced as part of a court case in Los Angeles, in which Pink was seeking to place a restraining order again Coe. The judge, Los Angeles County Superior Court Commissioner Laura Cohen, dismissed Pink’s request for a restraining order on January 6, and also ruled that Coe was entitled to “reasonable attorneys’ fees and costs” from Pink.
In court documents seen by Pitchfork, Pink claimed that Coe was harassing him and she had been “falsely claiming [Pink] was a sexual ‘predator’ and falsely claiming to mutual friends and to [Pink] that he committed sexual offenses almost three years ago for which she has threatened to report [Pink] to police authorities”.
He also alleged that she “attempted to blackmail him with false allegations of sexual misconduct to his record label and financial supporters, to the media, including Pitchfork and Variety, and to the general public.”
The court found that Coe “made a threshold showing” that the behaviours Pink alleged were harassment were “constitutionally-protected activities”. The judge referenced California’s ‘anti-SLAPP’ statute — which is used to prevent people bringing unnecessary lawsuits that are intended to intimidate the other party.
As part of her defence, Coe alleged multiple past abuses from Pink — one of them being a 2017 incident in which he “physically attacked” her onstage in San Francisco (when she was playing with Pink’s band). At the time, Coe dismissed the incident on Twitter as just having “fun with her boyfriend” — in her statement, she claims she “did not consent to the attack”.
“I began dating [Pink] in 2015, when I was 19 and [Pink] was 38,” she wrote in the court statement. “It was a tumultuous relationship, characterised by a power imbalance: [Pink] was 19 years older than me; [Pink] was famous, and I was not. [Pink] was established in the music business, while I was just beginning my music career.”
Coe goes on to allege that Pink forced her into having unprotected sex with him, that he gave her herpes, and that he “illegally distributed naked pictures” of her “to some of his fans.” After the two broke up in 2018, Coe claims Pink harassed her over text messages.
Pink’s lawyers confirmed to Pitchfork that they intend to appeal the court’s decision. Read through Pitchfork’s full reporting of the case here.
Coincidentally, the ruling was handed down on the same day Pink was attending the pro-Trump rally in Washington D.C. — the rally that resulted in the storming of the Capitol building. His record label, Mexican Summer, consequently dropped him.