US two-piece YACHT have this week faced every public figure’s worst nightmare – a leaked sex tape. But rather than being victims of the situation, the pair have taken back control by putting the original video up for sale, giving fans a legal avenue to view the tape, “If you absolutely must”.
Jona Bechtolt and Claire Evans, who explain they’ve been in a professional and romantic relationship for a decade now, explain they never wanted the video to see the light of day and made it in the spur of the moment for their own personal reasons. However, “due to a series of technological missteps and one morally abject person”, the video was leaked by an alleged hacker.
“We assumed that we were the only people who would be privy to that video. I guess we were naive. Now you have the option to be privy to that video. For us, that’s a shame. We feel like art is an act of generosity. The art we make for the public is for that expressed purpose. And now we’re in an awkward situation where the art that we made for us and us alone is being viewed by anyone who has the inclination to hit play — a true and humiliating blurring of the public and private.
“Just because we are public figures does not mean we asked for this. Like anyone, we still deserve to have a choice about what we share with the world. Today we no longer have that choice. But our hope is that you fundamentally understand that choice and you choose not to view a private act that was inadvertently made public. We hope you understand that this is not a delicious scandal. This is an exploitation.”
At first, the band was simply informing fans of what had happened but soon followed up the initial post by revealing that, in an attempt to be “as YACHT as possible”, they were putting the video up for sale. They shared a link to a new website where the video is going for $7 a pop, along with a serious message for anyone purchasing it:
“We’re not as savvy as the Kardashians, but something occurred to us this morning: we could try and distribute the video directly to you ourselves. Lemonade?
“If you absolutely must see this video, we ask that you refrain from downloading it from a torrent, or streaming it on a tube site. Controlling how this video is seen, and who profits from it, is the only form of agency we have left over this exploitative situation.”
A desperate publicity stunt? Or a genuine attempt to make the best out of a bad situation? Perhaps we’ll never know…
UPDATE: There’s speculation abound that the ‘leaked’ sex tape claims might be a part of a publicity stunt. But Why?
UPDATE 11/05/16: YACHT have attempted to defend their actions after their ‘stolen sex tape’ story was revealed to be fake.
UPDATE 12/05/16: YACHT have attempted to apologise again for the fake story and for their previous “shitty non-apology”.
