CONTENT WARNING: The following article discusses an incident of an alleged sexual assault.
AlunaGeorge vocalist Aluna Francis has opened up on a British podcast series about an alleged sexual assault on her by an unnamed collaborator.
As Pitchfork originally reported, management has clarified that the unnamed man Francis refers to in the podcast is not her bandmate, George Reid.
Along with Slow Club’s Rebecca Taylor and songwriter Chlöe Howl, Francis shared her experience on BBC’s The Next Episode, where she described being assaulted in her collaborator’s hotel room.
“He pinned me down and he’d taken his trousers down,” Francis said on The Next Episode, noting that it took some time for her to realise what had happened. “He was trying to put his dick in my mouth. So I wrestled him off, and he was still laughing ’cause he thought it was a game and that I was having a really fun time having a pretend rape situation.”
Upon confronting the man, Francis received an apology.
“This has never happened before,” she said. “I thought I was OK and I’m just so not.”
AlunaGeorge has released two studio albums, Body Music (2013) and I Remember (2016), as well as last year’s Champagne Eyes EP.
The Next Episode is a weekly podcast produced by the BBC that focuses on mental health, technology and social issues. You can check it out here.
