30 November 2017
Newsdesk
Beastie Boys star Adam Horovitz is supporting the women accusing his playwright father of sexual assault, revealing he believes their misconduct accounts are true.
The rapper's dad, Israel Horovitz, has been exposed in a new New York Times article, after nine women came forward with allegations against him, dating back to the mid-1980s.
And the celebrated writer's son isn't defending him.
A statement issued to the Times reads: "I believe the allegations against my father are true, and I stand behind the women that made them."
Those behind the accusations told the publication they felt encouraged to come forward following recent allegations of misconduct, harassment and assault levelled at disgraced movie producer Harvey Weinstein and comedian Louis C.K.
One woman, Maddie Corman, claims Horovitz "forcefully" kissed her when she was a 16-year-old actress working in an Off Broadway play in the mid 1980s.
Another, Jocelyn Meinhardt, who dated Adam 'Ad-Rock' Horovitz in high school, was 19 when she alleges the playwright kissed and fondled her as she began to cry, and then led her to his bedroom and raped her.
A third accuser, Frederique Giffard, states she was working as an au pair for Horovitz in 1991 - when she was 16 - when Israel groped her breasts and placed her hand on his penis.
The 78-year-old has apologised, even though he told the Times he had a different memory of some of the events: "I apologize with all my heart to any woman who has ever felt compromised by my actions, and to my family and friends who have put their trust in me," his statement reads. "To hear that I have caused pain is profoundly upsetting, as is the idea that I might have crossed a line with anyone who considered me a mentor."
