Cast your mind back to September 2020. For most of the UK, schools opened to all pupils again for the first time since March and kids were sent home for having sniffles by paranoid headmasters convinced they had coronavirus.
Remember that? I also remember it was the month that Resident Advisor, Mixmag and the rest finally started to take notice of the allegations that had been surrounding Derrick May for months – namely that he sexually abused and raped women.
Well, he issued a statement at the time – the only one he’s ever issued on the subject. Let’s enjoy it in its full and utterly absurd form…
“As a black man working in a white-dominated and openly biased industry, am I expected to have learned the painful lesson that there is no such thing as truth, fairness, or due process? When will the long, storied history of weaponising the sexuality of African American men end? Must I collaborate under duress with my own victimisation at the hands of an openly hostile press that amplifies the so-called fears of privileged, anonymous women in an internet-mediated lynching? I have no interest in legitimising these distortions. Women are the conduit of life, and as such, are to be protected, and not exploited. I live by those words.”
I re-read this statement recently and it reveals a number of disturbing things which I’m not sure May would want the world to know about.
Firstly however, the big one. Notice that at no point in this statement is there a denial of any kind. Not one of the allegations is refuted or denied in any way at all. It’s a very strange strategy – try to say you didn’t do something by not saying you didn’t do it – and one that’s backfired since.
Secondly, he mentions something about “weaponising the sexuality of African American men”. Is he seriously trying to say that because he’s black, different moral codes and different laws apply to him? Is he saying that sexual consent is a white person’s concept and that it therefore doesn’t apply to him?
And thirdly, he speaks about protecting women rather than exploiting them. Mr May ought to be aware that I’ve been sent even worse allegations against him than the ones already published – and that’s because I have to ensure what I publish is accurate.
Given no less than 18 women have now made complaints that I’m aware of – and I suspect this figure is already out of date – this claim about protecting women is looking even more hollow than when he first made his statement.
This isn’t going away, Mr May. And nor am I.
