Steven Tyler, Axl Rose and ‘lots and lots of others’: Rock stars and the abuse hidden in plain sight
“There are so many stories,” says Sophie Cunningham, wearily. “So many I was just not able to tell, and that’s because of money and power – success and celebrity goes a hell of a long way to keeping people quiet.”
Cunningham is the director and producer of a new documentary confronting the music industry’s dark side, rock music in particular; harassment and abuse against women and “relationships” involving megastars and teenage girls, an issue that was hidden in plain sight for years.
Look Away features interviews with women who make allegations against Aerosmith’s Steven Tyler and Guns ‘N’ Roses frontman Axl Rose, as well as the late music producer and songwriter Kim Fowley, who managed all-female teen rock group The Runaways, co-founded by Joan Jett in the 1970s. But Cunningham says there could have been many more.
Axl Rose of Guns ‘N’ Roses performing in Chicago in 1988. Pic: Gene Ambo/MediaPunch/IPX/AP
Post #MeToo, Hollywood and the film industry has had the start of its reckoning after disgraced producer Harvey Weinstein was jailed for rape and sexual assault in 2020, although it seems sadly inevitable that there is more to come.
For the music industry, says Cunningham, who worked on Look Away for two years, we have only seen the tip of the iceberg. To clarify, the allegations made by other women she couldn’t feature in the documentary – she’s talking about “lots and lots of [stars] who are very, very popular”.
Look Away shines a light on how the music industry fostered a culture where relationships with underage girls – statutory rape – were normalised, and how many behind the scenes turned a blind eye to aggressive sexual behaviour.
“It seems like an area that hasn’t yet had its #MeToo moment and I think desperately requires it,” says Cunningham.
Julia Holcomb’s story is well documented, despite the fact she never wanted to share it – it was Tyler himself who first brought the story to light, writing about their relationship in his 2011 autobiography.
Holcomb met the Aerosmith frontman as a fan at a gig in Portland, Oregon, when she was just 16 and he was in his mid-20s in 1973.
Because the age of consent in the state was 18, she claims Tyler persuaded her mother to sign over guardianship to him, making her his ward, so she could travel with the star on tour. She also claims she became pregnant with his baby, and was forced into having an abortion.
Through the lens of 2021, laid out in black and white, it all seems pretty shocking. But perhaps more shocking is that for years, this kind of behaviour wasn’t at all shocking.
“I think a lot of the times the artists themselves have written about their escapades with their girlfriends or what they got up to during this era and you never really hear from the women,” says Cunningham.
“Musicians were these godlike creatures, especially at that time. There were power structures that enabled them; as long as they were selling records and as long as they were making money for the big record companies, I think there was a general understanding [they] could pretty much get away with anything and also it could all just be written up as an excess of the time.
“It’s very, very easy to think ‘It was different then, it was hedonistic, the world was a different place’. But I think it’s clear from the women who’ve spoken out that their experiences as [teenage] girls impacted them in the same way that they would if it happened to [teenagers] now. It’s not a different era, it’s just that we look at it differently.”
Sheila Kennedy is another woman featured in the documentary, speaking about an experience with Axl Rose in the late 1980s when she was 18. Kennedy was a Penthouse “Pet of the Year” and says she was invited back to a party at a hotel suite with the star. She accuses of him of physically abuse – grabbing her hair and dragging her – before they had sex.
(L-R): Joan Jett, Cherie Currie, Jackie Fox (Fuchs) and Lita Ford of The Runaways, pictured in 1976. Pic: Kipa/Shutterstock
Jackie Fuchs, bassist with The Runaways – who was known as Jackie Fox at the time – also shares her story, accusing Fowley, the band’s manager, of rape, and detailing how people ignored it at the time.
Speaking out like this is not necessarily about seeking justice in the legal sense, says Cunningham, but having a voice – and trying to instigate change.
“Although we are focusing on a certain era in this film, the music industry is still functioning in a very, very similar way,” she says. “I spoke to so many music industry insiders who made it quite clear that nothing has changed. [The documentary] looks at an era I think we all feel very fondly towards, but we need to look at it in a different way. You don’t want to take away from [the music] but you have to recognise that other things were at play.
“All of the women in the film are incredible women in the sense they’re forgiving and they aren’t ‘out to get’ these rock stars. It’s about setting the record straight. For many of them, it’s a personal reckoning. I don’t think it’s a case of wanting to get their own back or tearing anyone down… It’s actually not about the rock stars at all, it’s about these women and it’s about them being heard – so that people don’t just make the assumptions that I think a lot of people make about some of these women.”
Look Away director Sophie Cunningham says she hopes the documentary can play a part in starting to instigate change. Pic: Johnny Stafford
Post #MeToo, Cunningham says the world is hopefully finally ready to listen: “Culturally, we’re all thinking in a different way. I think that there hasn’t been an opportunity or a hunger until now to actually hear these stories in a way that challenges our ideas of what the rock scene was.
“So many people, when you tell them you’re making a film like this, they’re like ‘Oh, no, please don’t’ – and then they name their favourite rock star because they don’t want that musician or that music to be ruined for them. This music is so deeply embedded in our lives, I think sometimes people don’t want to [acknowledge] there can be a darker side.”
Cunningham says there were many men who worked behind the scenes who did not want to take part in the documentary. “I think that’s important thing to say,” she says. “That silence, I think, speaks volumes. So although we’re in a time that we’ve been ready for these women to speak and they feel like they have the power to speak, there are lots of men who don’t want to speak out in support of these women for fear of the repercussions in the industry.”
Representatives for Tyler and Rose did not respond to requests to comment or be featured in the documentary by the filmmakers, says Cunningham. Nor did they respond to requests for comment from Sky News.
Cunningham says she likes to think there might come a time when musicians, or any public faces, who behaved in a certain way when it was normalised years ago, want to acknowledge mistakes and help bring about change.
“Wouldn’t you want to speak out and support these women?” she says. “Yes, accusations are being made about you, but maybe speaking out can actually, not redeem you because obviously all of these things have happened, but wouldn’t it be incredible if a rock star came forward and said ‘I did some really bad things and I know I hurt people and I want to campaign for change in support of these women?’ I think that would be incredible.
“But I think silence is just an example of what many people have been doing for years. As I said, there were so many people I approached to be in this film who are prominent men within the music industry, offering them the opportunity to speak out in support of women, about a time that they were part of, and so many people didn’t want to do that. And I think that silence speaks volumes, doesn’t it?”
Look Away premieres on Sky Documentaries and NOW on Monday 13 September at 9pm
Entertainment
BBC director general’s resignation ‘regrettable’ but he was ‘right to do so’ – culture committee chair
The resignation of the BBC’s director general was “regrettable” but he was “right to do so”, the chair of parliament’s culture committee has told Sky News.
Dame Caroline Dinenage said she was not expecting the resignations of Tim Davie and the chief executive of BBC News Deborah Turness, which they announced on Sunday evening.
She told Mornings with Ridge and Frost: “I think it’s really regrettable that Tim Davie had to step down – huge commitment to the BBC and public service broadcasting.
“But I think he was right to do so. I think restoring trust in the corporation has got to come first.”
BBC latest: Outgoing BBC News boss rejects ‘institutional bias’
Dame Caroline, who will chair a culture, media and sport committee meeting on Tuesday where the issue will be discussed, said the BBC was “very slow to react” to a leaked report by Michael Prescott, an independent adviser to the BBC’s editorial guidelines and standards board.
The dossier, sent to the BBC board and leaked to The Daily Telegraph, accused a Panorama special on Donald Trump, released a week before the 2024 US election, of being “neither balanced nor impartial – it seemed to be taking a distinctly anti-Trump stance”.
Tim Davie resigned on Sunday evening. Pic: PA
He also said the programme had spliced two clips from separate parts of Mr Trump’s speech to his supporters on 6 January 2021, the day of the Capitol Hill riots, to give the “impression that Trump had incited protesters to storm Capital Hill”.
Mr Prescott also raised bias concerns about the BBC’s coverage of trans issues and the war in Gaza.
Dame Caroline accused the BBC of failing to take his report seriously “until it was too late”.
Ms Turness arrived at the BBC’s central London headquarters on Monday morning, where she admitted “mistakes are made” but said there is “no institutional bias”.
She defended the BBC’s journalists, saying “of course” they are not corrupt and they “strive for impartiality”.
Read more:
The BBC controversies faced by Tim Davie during his time in charge
Politics Hub – latest updates
Outgoing BBC News boss Deborah Turness spoke to media on Monday. Pic: PA
Dame Caroline said the situation “has to influence the BBC charter decisions”.
The BBC’s Royal Charter outlines the corporation’s mission, public purposes and governance, along with specific obligations and how it is funded.
It is up for renewal in 2027, with the government currently carrying out a review to determine the BBC’s future, including its funding model and mission.
Dame Caroline said the last review, 10 years before, put integrity as the BBC’s top missions.
She added: “I think the charter has to look at how the BBC retains its balance and its integrity, how it retains the trust of the British people and the licence fee payer, because, you know, that’s absolutely fundamental for the future of the BBC.
“But actually it reflects upon us as a nation, because the BBC is such a well known and such a well respected brand around the world.”
BBC chair Samir Shah is expected to apologise in a letter to Dame Caroline’s committee later today.
Michael Prescott’s leaked memo raising concerns over BBC impartiality has brought down two of its top bosses.
US President Donald Trump has swiftly weighed in to brand the corporation “corrupt” and “dishonest”.
With the BBC now in crisis, who is the man who started it all?
Michael Prescott
An ex-journalist, Michael Prescott was an independent adviser to the BBC’s Editorial Guidelines and Standards Board for three years before leaving in June.
Studying at Oxford, he worked for 17 years as a journalist, with a decade spent working at the Sunday Times, initially as chief political correspondent before rising to political editor.
No stranger to showbiz, he has previously advised high-net-worth individuals and Hollywood stars on sensitive disputes and had a regular spot on Michael Parkinson’s weekly Radio 2 show, Parkinson’s Sunday Supplement, giving the newspaper review.
BBC chairman expected to apologise to MPs – follow latest
Mr Prescott has also worked in a series of corporate advisory roles – as corporate affairs director for BT, where he helped launch BT Sport and was part of the telecoms company’s merger with EE.
Ahead of that, he was managing director of corporate communications and public affairs at global PR company Weber Shandwick, where he advised organisations including Virgin Media, Balfour Beatty, British Nuclear Fuels, MasterCard, IKEA, air traffic control body NATS and numerous universities.
He currently holds roles at Hanover Communications, an international communications and PR agency.
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Ridge and Frost analysis on what’s next for BBC
Mr Prescott is also a member of the government’s Advisory Committee on Business Appointments, offering independent advice to the Prime Minister, among others.
What did his memo say?
Mr Prescott has said he wrote a memo in “despair at inaction by the BBC Executive when issues come to light”.
He went on: “On no other occasion in my professional life have I witnessed what I did at the BBC with regard to how management dealt with (or failed to deal with) serious recurrent problems.”
Read more: Tim Davie and Deborah Turness’s resignation letters in full
His memo also raised concerns about other areas of BBC output – including coverage of trans issues, and the war in Gaza.
This memo was later leaked to The Telegraph, leading to the crisis at the top of the BBC, resulting in two resignations.
Who else is involved?
Tim Davie. Pic: PA
Tim Davie
Ex-BBC boss Tim Davie had earned himself the nickname Teflon Tim due to his staying power through numerous controversies. But now it seems he’s seen one controversy too far.
Previously vice-president for marketing and franchise for drinks giant PepsiCo Europe, he was made CBE in 2018 for services to international trade.
Joining the BBC in 2005, he rose to the top position of director-general in 15 years.
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Why ‘Teflon Tim’ resigned from BBC
Controversies he previously weathered include former Match Of The Day host Gary Lineker’s 2023 brief suspension, Gregg Wallace’s sacking and Bob Vylan’s 2025 Glastonbury set.
Earlier this year, the breaching of the BBC’s Broadcasting Code over documentary Gaza: How To Survive A Warzone dented the corporation’s reputation further, followed by the edit of Donald Trump’s 6 January 2021 speech in flagship show Panorama – which has offered the decisive blow.
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Watch: Outgoing BBC News CEO rejects claims of bias
Deborah Turness
A linguist, Deborah Turness studied in Surrey, followed by a postgraduate diploma in journalism in France, at the University of Bordeaux.
She became chief executive of BBC news and current affairs in September 2022, previously working as CEO of ITN.
Before that was president of NBC News International, the global arm of American news network NBC News.
Prior to joining NBC News, she was editor of ITV News, where she was their first female editor and the youngest ever editor of ITV News.
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What did the BBC do to anger Trump?
What has Donald Trump got to do with it?
Mr Davie’s and Ms Turness’s resignations come off the back of internal concerns over the edit of a Donald Trump speech in an episode of the BBC’s Panorama programme.
The concerns regard clips spliced together of the US president’s speech on January 6, 2021.
That was the day of the storming of the Capitol building in Washington by Trump supporters who believed the 2020 election had been stolen by Joe Biden.
The edit was part of the documentary Trump: A Second Chance?, which was broadcast by the BBC before last year’s US elections.
Responding to the resignations, Mr Trump posted a lengthy statement on Truth Social.
“The TOP people in the BBC, including TIM DAVIE, the BOSS, are all quitting/FIRED, because they were caught “doctoring” my very good (PERFECT!) speech of January 6th,” he wrote.
“Thank you to The Telegraph for exposing these Corrupt ‘Journalists.’ These are very dishonest people who tried to step on the scales of a Presidential Election. On top of everything else, they are from a Foreign Country, one that many consider our Number One Ally. What a terrible thing for Democracy!”
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