Jackie Fuchs of the Runaways has a horrific story to tell. The Runaways were an all-girl band from the 70s that launched the careers of Joan Jet and Lita Ford, as well inspiring numerous other girls to rock out. The band was initially managed by a man named Kim Fowley. Jackie Fuchs played bass in the band.
Jackie Fuchs now says Kim Fowley raped her. And she says Runaways bandmates Joan Jett and Cherie Currie watched.
Kim Fowley died in January of this year after a battle with bladder cancer. But the story that Jackie Fuchs tells of an alleged event in 1976 speaks in his absence.
Jackie Fuchs went by the name Jackie Fox at the time. the rest of the band lineup included Joan Jett and Lita Ford on guitar, with Cherie Currie on vocals, Sandy West on drums. The band was touring behind their debut album The Runaways.
Lita Ford of the Runaways in the 1970s pic.twitter.com/49d5XODp5m
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Fuchs says she was given Quaaludes by a roadie. Quaaludes have been referred to as “thigh openers.” You may remember them from recent Bill Cosby news.
Big news week for Quaaludes
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Jackie Fuchs told Huffington Post her tale.
“At some point, Jackie says she had to lie down on a bed to rest. She was having trouble staying upright. When a roadie checked to see if she was OK, Fowley asked him if he was interested in having sex with her. ‘She doesn’t mind,’ Fowley said. ‘Do you?'”
Jackie says she could not move.
“Jackie tried to protest, but she was frozen. ‘You don’t know what terror is until you realize something bad is about to happen to you and you can’t move a muscle,’ she says. ‘I can’t move. I can’t speak. All I can do is look him in the eye and do the best I can do to communicate: Please say no. … I don’t know what it looked like from the outside. But I know what was going on inside and it was horror.'”
When no one else stepped forward to have sex with the incapacitated Jackie, she says Kim Fowley himself took over.
“Fowley invited other guys to have sex with Jackie before removing his own pants and climbing on top of her.”
Other people were called in to watch the Runaways bassist get raped.
“On the bed, Fowley played to the crowd, gnashing his teeth and growling like a dog as he raped Jackie. He got up at one point to strut around the room before returning to Jackie’s body.”
Jackie said she saw her friends in the room, who offered no help.
“’I remember opening my eyes, Kim Fowley was raping me, and there were people watching me,’ Jackie says. She looked out from the bed and noticed [Cherie] Currie and [Joan] Jett staring at her. She says this was her last memory of the night.”
Joan Jett has responded to the story, saying in a statement:
“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 70’s 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.”
Kim Fowley has been accused of rape by the former bassist of the Runaways. Read here: http://t.co/RAkclSVXDa pic.twitter.com/nQZLLVAcV1
— UltimateClassicRock (@UltClassicRock) July 11, 2015
