Evan Dando of the Lemonheads has been accused of sending unsolicited explicit videos of himself to a woman. Dando allegedly sent the unnamed woman videos of himself masturbating via direct messages on Twitter. The woman and her husband captured screen recordings of the videos and screenshots of her communications with Dando, which they shared with the Underground Bunker, a newsletter dedicated to exposing Scientology.
Dando is not a Scientologist, but as reporter Tony Ortega explains, "We write about Scientology news here at the Underground Bunker, but in this case we were approached by a longtime, very active reader who asked if we could help with a different kind of problem."
The reader explains that his wife, referred to by the pseudonym Dawn, maintained an ongoing public dialogue on Twitter with Dando, who lives in Brazil with his wife, filmmaker Antonia Teixeira, and her three children. "We tweeted back and forth in the past," Dawn writes. "Usually about art. One time it was about Edward Gorey."
Dawn says last October, when the Lemonheads released Love Chant, their first album of original music in 19 years, she sent Dando a DM to congratulate him but did not hear back. Months later, on Feb. 4, she received a response from Dando, who wrote, "Cool I'm sorry I'm an exhibitionist." On Feb. 5, she wrote back, "Don't ever apologize for being you, my friend. Always be unapologetic. And you," ending with a heart emoji.
The morning of Feb. 7, she woke up to find several more messages from Dando, including a media file. Thinking it might be some music, she clicked on it and found footage of Dando masturbating. "It’s him sitting in a basement or something, and he’s fully masturbating," she writes. "You can see his penis, and his face. It’s definitely him. He’s filming it from a weird angle." After shutting off the video, she went back to read the messages, which said, "Would it be cool if I sent you an ‘art’ photo?” and, three minutes later, "Can I send you a photo?"
To verify that it is indeed Dando in the video, Ortega points out that it was sent from his account, @Evan_Dando. Ortega also notes that the day Dando first messaged Dawn, he posted a photo of himself wearing the same T-shirt seen in the masturbation video.
The morning of Feb. 8, Dawn received a photo of Dando wrapped in what appeared to be a dress, followed by a second masturbation video. The communication ended with two more messages. "Ok sorry thanks I just need an outlet," Dando wrote, followed by, "Cheers."
"I’ve never felt anger like that,” Dawn writes to the Underground Bunker. "Don’t call me an outlet, that’s gross."
Representatives for Dando could not be reached for comment.
If you or someone you know is undergoing sexual abuse, please visit rainn.org or contact the National Sexual Assault Helpline at 1-800-656-4673.
