Ryan Adams cancels tour after sexual misconduct allegations

Atticus McGivern | March 1st, 2019

Ryan Adams’ scheduled UK and Ireland tour has been cancelled, following a series of sexual misconduct allegations made against the American singer-songwriter.

A statement was released on the official Ticketmaster twitter account, ensuring that ‘Full refunds to ticket purchasers from authorised outlets will be processed’. The announcement comes less than a week after reports that the planned release of Adams’ upcoming album ‘Big Colors’ will not take place. 

Claims made against Adams, 44, were publicised in a New York Times report outlining testimonies from numerous women, including Adams’ ex-wife Mandy Moore and country musician Phoebe Bridgers. 

In the report, Moore described how Adams’ ‘Psychologically abusive’ behaviour manipulated her creative output: ‘His controlling behaviour essentially did block my ability to make new connections in the industry’. The actress and singer also appeared on the podcast ‘WTF with Marc Macron’, where she discussed her 7 year marriage to the musician; ‘It was so untenable and unsustainable and it was so lonely…I was lonely with him’.

Bridgers also gave her account on Adams’ inappropriate behaviour. Bridgers, 24, first met Adams in 2014 when he invited her to perform for him at Pax-Am studios in California. From there, Bridgers claims that the two started a brief romantic relationship before Adams’ behaviour turned controlling and emotionally contemptuous- harassing her with abusive text messages and threatening with suicide if she did not reply. 

Another woman- also featured in the New York Times report- alleged that she and Adams exchanged more than 3,000 messages between 2014 and 2015 when she was just 15 years old. Some of the communication between the two, which includes photographs, is said to be explicit in nature with the woman (known only as Ava) testifying that Adams’ once exposed himself on webcam. Given the nature of the allegations and the age of the woman at the time, the F.B.I. have now launched an enquiry in concordance with state laws in Ohio and New York. 

Adams’ has denied all allegations through his lawyer Andrew Brettler, who said the claims were ‘Grousing by disgruntled individuals’ who blamed Adams for ‘Personal or professional disappointments’.