Joan Jett + Cherie Currie Respond to Jackie Fuchs’ Rape Allegations

Joan Jett and Cherie Currie have released statements following allegations made by their former Runaways bandmate, Jackie Fuchs, that they witnessed her being raped in the '70s by their manager Kim Fowley, who died in January.

Fuchs – who went by the name "Jackie Fox" – made the accusations in an extensive story by Huffington Post and said she was 16 at the time of the alleged incident. “I remember opening my eyes, Kim Fowley was raping me, and there were people watching me,” she said, referring to Jett and Currie.

On Friday (July 10), Jett released a statement via Yahoo! Music that said:

Anyone who truly knows me understands that if I was aware of a friend or bandmate being violated, I would not stand by while it happened. For a group of young teenagers thrust into ’70s rock stardom there were relationships that were bizarre, but I was not aware of this incident. Obviously Jackie’s story is extremely upsetting and although we haven’t spoken in decades, I wish her peace and healing.”

The next day, Currie followed suit with her own statement on Facebook:

I have been accused of a crime. Of looking into the dead yet pleading eyes of a girl, unable to move while she was brutally raped and doing nothing. I have never been one to deny my mistakes in life and I wouldn’t start now. If I were guilty, I would admit it. There are so many excuses I could make being only one month into my sixteenth year at the time that people would understand but I am innocent. When I return from Sweden I will seek a qualified polygraph examiner to put to rest any and all allegations. I will make public the questions, answers and results of that test. I am a proud person but for this, I may need to open a Fund Me account since I do not know how much this will cost. I am not a rich person but a carver. I wouldn’t ask for funding for my new album because I am proud. I will prove I am telling the truth. I will not allow anyone to throw me under the bus and accuse me of such a foul act. I will fight for myself. It is the only thing I can do.”

Fuchs left the Runaways in 1977 and Currie followed later that year. The band officially broke up in 1979.