July 2019
Re: Hedley frontman appears in Toronto court on sex charges (Sam Pazzano, Toronto Sun, 12 July 2019):
In light of the sexual assault and sexual exploitation charges that Hedley frontman Jacob Hoggard is facing in a Toronto courtroom, can it reasonably be said that rock stars of days-gone-by bear some responsibility for possibly instilling in Hoggard the idea that this is acceptable behaviour for a rock star?
I’m not saying that Hoggard is blameless in any way, as this abusive type of behaviour is unacceptable no matter how it is learnt, but rock stars seem to have a special sense of privilege and entitlement. It’s possible that Hoggard would have behaved this way towards women (allegedly) even if he wasn’t a rock star, but he learnt it somewhere. Even if he is ultimately acquitted, he has already publicly admitted to being a cad.
We’ve all heard the stories of sex, drugs and debauchery, especially related to bands from the 60s, 70s and 80s. Even some women rockers of the day have admitted to getting in on the action too, so to speak.
On the other side of the coin, how about the professional groupies who helped enable this sense of entitlement with women, the ones who set about getting busy with as many rockers as they could?
I’m not pretending to have the answer, nor blame anyone who is undeserving of blame, but this isn’t a new story and if we were as enlightened back then as we are now, maybe fewer women (and some men too) would have been victimized.
