The singer for the band “The Red Hot Chili Peppers,” Anthony Kiedis, described repeatedly raping a fourteen year-old girl in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, in his Autobiography titled “Scar Tissue,” released in 2004. Kiedis was 23 when he met the girl at one of his shows, and later discovered she was attending a Catholic School. This was in the mid-1980s when Red Hot Chili Peppers was touring around the United States and building a fanbase.
Kiedis, now 59, explains:
“The next day we drove to Baton Rouge, and of course, she came with us,” he said. “After we got offstage, she came up to me and said, ‘I have something to tell you. My father’s the chief of police and the entire state of Louisiana is looking for me because I’ve gone missing. Oh, and besides that, I’m only fourteen’.”
Kiedis continued: “I wasn’t incredibly scared, because, in my somewhat deluded mind, I knew that if she told the chief of police she was in love with me, he wasn’t going to have me taken out to a field and shot, but I did want to get her the hell back home right away. So we had sex one more time.”
What we can take away is that he is unapologetic, and therefore has no remorse for what he did. But this isn’t the first time he’s been accused of at least harassment. Indeed, Anthony Kiedis, also was convicted of Sexual Battery in 1989. And again in 1990, two other Red Hot Chili Peppers band members, Michael “Flea” Balzary and drummer Chad Smith were arrested for and charged with battery, disorderly conduct and solicitation to commit an unnatural act (Balzary) and battery (Smith).
The arresting officer, Sgt Ray Caruso of Volusia County, said that the women were shaken.
“I think she sustained the injuries by trying to fight them off, when she was slammed to the ground by one of them. The other bruise she sustained to her leg when the other member tried to rip off her bathing suit.”
Attorney Kat McClain offered an opinion about possible penalties for raping a 14 year-old child in Louisiana:
“Statutory rape laws make those under 17 years of age legally incapable of giving consent to sexual activities. This means that even if the minor consented, the sexual activity was nonetheless illegal, and the defendant may be convicted of sexual battery or rape. Furthermore, those with certain disabilities do not have the ability to consent to sexual activities.”
The Red Hot Chili Peppers are scheduled to play at New Orleans Jazz Fest on May 1st of this year. Survivors of Childhood Sex Abuse (SCSA) has written a letter to the Jazz Fest Foundation, in hopes that they will not play at the festival:
“We believe it is of a better judgment to not allow him to perform at your festival. As long as he is a free man and is in our state, our children are potentially at risk. Therefore, we are respectfully asking that the offer/contract to play on your stage be rescinded. “
What is troubling is that did Kiedis consider the young girl a trophy because her Father was a police chief? Admitting to repeated rapes, was raping children institutionalized in the band in other areas of the United States and in the World? And how many more Kiedis child sex abuse victims are there in Louisiana?
We have contacted Jason Weinberg and Donovan Daughtry of Untitled Entertainment via email, who are listed in IMDB as the managers and representatives of Kiedis. As of this writing, we have not had a response.
Editor’s note: The article has been updated as of 1:04 pm on April 10, 2022 to add additional context to include an additional charge of battery against Kiedis in 1989. The article now emphasizes that Red Hot Chili Peppers is scheduled to play at Jazz Fest. We also included a quote from a criminal law attorney, Ms. Kat McClain.
